Dreamt Shoreline
by Chilipop
Summary: Stan becomes involved in a series of events related to his classmates and must travel through their 'shorelines' to discover what happened in Stark's Pond years ago.
1. TM Awake & Asleep

**Dreamt Shoreline**

**I. THE MIND AWAKE AND ASLEEP**

* * *

><p><em>"I did it for your own sake, Stan"<em>

_No, you didn't-_

_"I wanted to protect you. I saw it..."_

_You shouldn't have... because I-!_

_**I. AWAKE**_

* * *

><p>"Stanley… Stanley… wake up!"<p>

"… Mom?" I answered back. I felt very sleepy.

"How are you feeling, dear?" My mom's voice was trembling. Did I miss school or something? I might have overslept.

"Fine… Just a little bit tired… what time is it?"

"You should eat your breakfast first. Let's go downstairs. Your father and sister are waiting for you."

"Yeah… but I'm not that hungry…" And I don't want to see my sister.

"Try to eat something." She went downstairs.

Damn. My legs felt a little numb. I just had to walk slowly until they recovered. That sucked. It's not that I limped but it was quite hard to walk as I'd normally do.

I slowly descended the stairs and sat next to Shelly.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Nothing." I felt I wanted to ask him a lot of questions but nothing came into my mind. Why?

I sighed. It sucked that today would be my first day of high school and I wasn't feeling well at all. I was worried about not making friends the very first day since I didn't want to feel like a loser sitting alone during lunch break.

"Hey turd, time to go to your new school. Afraid you will be beaten up?" Shelly told me.

"Nah…" I answered back. "Afraid you won't find a boyfriend?"

"Get lost!"

* * *

><p>The school wasn't very large as I expected. South Park High School, huh?<p>

"Hey!" A blonde guy with short, straight hair greeted me with a huge smile. "I haven't seen you before. That means... you are a new student, right?"

Well, duh.

"I'm Stan."

"I'm Butters!"

He seemed like a nice guy even if he was a little dumb, maybe too goody-goody for his own good. I noticed some students looking at me with a lot of curiosity. That made me feel a little uncomfortable.

"Oh boy! I know what it feels to be the new kid in school. That's why I'll introduce you to some friends. Oh! There is Jimmy!"

A guy with brown hair and crutches greeted me from afar.

"Ah! And there's Kenny!" He pointed at a blonde guy with a messy hair who was smoking and looking at a Playboy magazine. His hand slowly descended towards his zipper and – oh god, I looked away. "He's ummm… quite liberal. Yeah, that's right." Said Butters. Yeah… I can CLEARLY see that. In fact, I don't want to see it.

Another guy was approaching that blonde with the porn magazine. He gave him a couple of bucks and received two magazines in exchange.

"That's Clyde." He pointed at him. "He dates a lot of girls. I wish I would date someone. Then I wouldn't get grounded, I mean-, just forget about that."

Another guy approached them. He had brown skin and black hair.

"That's Token. His family has a lot of money. But he isn't a show off, he's a good guy."

I looked at the other students passing by until someone caught my attention.

There was a guy with vivid red curly hair and bright green eyes. He was shouting to someone on the phone. He might have felt my gaze upon him because he immediately turned around and faced me with his eyes wide open. I felt his stare pierce me, as if he was trying to look deep into the worst of me.

"Are you ok?" Butters asked me. He looked worried. I realized my legs had given up made me fall to the floor. I rubbed my forehead. My head felt fuzzy. The red-haired boy disappeared from my sight. He glared at me one last time before he walked away.

"I'm ok…" I didn't know if I was telling that to Butters or to myself. "Who was him?"

"T-t-that's K-k—Kyle." The boy with the crutches approached us. "H-h-He's the school p-p-pur-president."

"Let's go inside, okay?" I told them.

I wasn't feeling very well. There was so much noise! Those must have been the noisy students walking by. Those annoying girls who loved to squeak a lot.

"Don't girls get tired of screaming?" I complained. "It's annoying…"

"Stan?" Butters shook my shoulder. "Stan?"

My vision started to get a bit blurry.

"I'm ok, let's go."

I swear I heard the crippled kid whispering something to Butters.

We entered the gymnasium. There were plastic chairs for the students and a huge poster which said 'Welcome to South Park High School'. The director gave an extremely boring speech, as expected.

The boy with the red hair and a gorgeous blonde girl with curly hair stepped up to the podium.

"That's Bebe. She's the school vicepresident." Butters whispered to me.

"Good morning teachers, administrators and fellow classmates. My name is Kyle Broflovski. I will be your school president this year..." The boy went on.

"Dude, she's hot! Do you think she'll go out with me?" I overheard one guy telling the blonde guy named Kenny.

"Maybe. Who knows." He answered. "I already did her, you aren't missing anything. Well, maybe her huge knockers."

"Is h-h-he OK? I mean there were no g-g-g-gu-girls when we where outs-..-side." I overheard Jimmy whispering to Butters. Of course there were annoying girls screaming, I heard them.

"…We have to embrace the new challenges this new year has for us, give our best and be responsible for our actions. We are all students and teachers. I often ask myself, '_What did I come to learn, and what did I come to teach?_' You must know that you can never plan the future by the past. Each one of you, siting right there, will forge their own path based on the decisions they take today. The only thing that matters is your present."

"Hey." Butters told me. "I think Mr. Adler will be our homeroom teacher. He's a nice guy."

"Yeah?" I answered. "That's good."

"Not only studying will take you down the right path." The school president went on. "You must also try to be a better person. Perhaps the hardest thing to do is to accept who we are. That is why, whatever happens, keep moving forward. And forgive those who harm us."

Most people weren't paying attention. Their gazes were elsewhere or they were getting sleepy. Except for a couple of guys. The black guy, I think his name was Token, covered his face and started... sobbing? What the-... Another guy, Clyde, looked troubled and lowered his gaze. The playboy magazine guy was biting his lip and staring at the door, as if he wanted to leave. Dunno what could be bothering him. There was a girl with bright red auburn hair who was staring at Bebe. They were communicating by strange hand signs, is that what they call girlspeak? She also looked slightly uncomfortable. Maybe each one of them had their own problems. Especially that boy with a blue chullo. Damn. He was kind of scary with those clear turquoise eyes. His face was emotionless and he was staring at his forearms. What was up with him? SHIT! He saw me looking at him, now he's looking back at me. His icy cold stare sent me the chills. He's definitely someone I don't want to be near!

"-Because nothing is permanent in this wicked world. Not even our troubles. Thank you."

Everyone clapped, even if they hadn't been listening.

"And now the words from our school vicepresident, Bebe Stevens."

"Hey." I nudged Butters. "Who is that creepy guy with a blue chullo."

"Oh, that's Craig Tucker. He doesn't speak a lot and he is quite reserved. He is a good guy but you should stay out of his way."

"Why?"

"Because he… errr… I don't know it's hard to explain. You should let him be." Butters placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You sh-sh-should ku-ku-k-eep your distance from h-hj-him." Said the crippled kid. "And try to ap-p-pu-proach Kyle."

"Approach the school president? What for?"

"You are the new kid and he is the school president. He will help you and can give you some tips."

It would have been easier if said school president was approachable like Butters or Jimmy but he looked so unreachable. It was so hard for me to look directly into his eyes without feeling this weird sensation in my guts.

"-so let his year be special-" Bebe continued with her speech. "-for everyone in here. Let it be filled with surprises. We will laugh, we will cry, we will make lots of friends-"

This 'Kyle' person looked so serious. He looked quite nerdy, with those oval red glasses and his scarf.

"Are you sure I can talk to Kyle? I mean he must be busy and-"

"Just look for him after the entrance ceremony is over."

"Most people walk in and out of your life, but friends leave footprints in your heart. Thank you." Bebe finished and the students clapped.

The entrance ceremony was over and Butters pointed at Kyle.

"Go, buddy, he's right there."

"Don't worry, I can go later, I-"

But Butters had already left. I didn't want to talk to the school president, I just… didn't feel like it. Oh well, let's give it a shot.

"Umm… hey are you… Kyle?"

He turned around and stared at me.

"Yeah? Need something?" The way he answered back was almost intimidating.

"I- I'm Stan. Stan Marsh." I introduced myself.

"Yeah. I know." He whispered.

"You do?" I was surprised.

"Huh." He nodded. "I checked on my register." He said. "As the school president I should know the name of most of the students. Particularly, the new ones."

"Oh I see…"

"Anyways, what do you want?" He was slightly irritated and trying to feign a smile.

"I… I… I'm a new student so I wondered if you could show me around the school or, you know, explain stuff to me like things about the teachers, school breaks…"

"Look I'm sorry but I'm kinda busy at the moment. Do you think it can wait until later? I really need to go."

"Oh- okay. No problem."

"Good. In the meanwhile try asking your classmates."

He left. Just like that. That son of a bitch left!

"At least you could have said 'Goodbye'!" I screamed at him but the guy didn't give a shit about it.

* * *

><p>"Did Kyle show you around the school?"<p>

"No. He said he had stuff to do."

"Oh, that's a shame!" Said Butters. "You can look for him later."

"No thanks. I don't think I'd ever get along with the school president." He's just… argh. If he didn't want to help me, he just had to say so instead of wasting my time.

"He must be in **that** time of the month."

"That time of the month?" I turned around trying to find who had said that.

"I mean he's getting his period." A fat guy climbed into the room from the window. "He must be having those cramps, poor Kahl."

"Dude!" Kenny exclaimed. "You are lucky Mr. Adler hasn't come here yet or he'd cut your balls off with a chainsaw!"

"He won't cause I'm fucking awesome, Kinni!" He said, while putting his hand on my shoulder. "Now there, whatever-your-name-is. Kyle's vagina... has sand on it. And it itches so bad!… so he's always shouting, screaming, whining and bitching. But it gets even worse when he is on his period because he bleeds a lot and he refuses to take meds for it."

"Now, now, Cartman, you shouldn't say mean things about Kyle." Butters told him.

"I'm Eric Cartman. The real school president. The current one is a fucking Jew and it is my job to exterminate him before he betrays us all! If his grandpa betrayed Jesus, he could easily betray the whole classroom! The whole school! He could even betray you! He is dangerous and I need your help before he steals all of our money. Kinni! You are on my side, hurry up and buy me a gun."

"No dude, I won't go against Kyle! Fuck off." Kenny.

"No, you want to go against him but you don't have the money to buy a gun so buy a knife instead. Oh? You don't have a money for a knife? Maybe a kitchen knife? Oh. I forgot you poor people can't afford any cutlery. Tell me Kinni, how does it feel to masturbate with your hand smelling like pop tarts?"

"Cartman drop it off!" I screamed at him. "Stop being an inconsiderate asshole!"

"Get used to it." Kenny sighed.

* * *

><p>Recess time came at last. I decided to hang out with Cartman and Kenny.<p>

"Argh! I hate Mr. Adler! He keeps telling me I'm fat!" The fat boy complained.

"Why'd you hate someone for telling the truth?" Kenny said.

"Fuck you, Kenny! At least I don't reuse toilet paper 5 times like you do!"

"Dude, fuck off." He told him. "And why are you still fat? I thought you were going to the gym" Kenny told him.

"Yeah" Cartman said. "But since I'm going to the gym and burning calories I need to eat, you know, moooore. So Instead of having two burgers for lunch I eat 5."

"You are never going to burn calories if you keep eating more and more of them." I told him as a matter of fact. "You should do exercise but eat the same amount of food."

"Are you crazy? I get hungry!" He whined. "I need more calories to burn."

"How many sit-ups do you do?" I asked him.

"About 3 or 4 a day."

"Hmmm… 3 or 4 sets of how much each set?" I asked him.

"Sets? Nah, I do 3 or 4 sit-ups in total." He said proudly.

I rolled my eyes and mentally facepalmed.

* * *

><p>After the first recess had ended, another student entered the classroom.<p>

"Oh. Isn't it the school president?" Mr. Adler spoke with a menacing tone. "So apparently being the school president gives you privileges to skip class."

It was Kyle. His hair looked messy and his face was redder than what I remembered. He looked tired and his eyes were quite red. Had he been crying?

"I'm sorry. I had stuff to do." He looked flustered.

"I'm sorry? Stuff to do? The student council meetings do not start until two weeks time. And the teachers have all gone to their classrooms, same as students." He was pissed off. I was pissed off as well, I really thought Kyle had some stuff to do but it was kind of obvious he had been lying to me.

"I'll explain later, Mr. Adler."

"No. You will explain it right now in front of everyone since you have really set a wonderful example to the rest of the class!"

Everyone was quiet and looking at the acclaimed president.

"Can I just… take a seat?" He said. He looked really pissed off. I felt a little bit sorry for him

Mr. Adler's mobile phone started ringing with a cheesy romantic tune. He went to pick it up.

"Hi? Oh, principal Victoria… Ok…. I understand… ok…. Oh, I see…. Yeah…. I'll let it pass… yeah I know… you too." He hanged up. "Ok Kyle take a seat."

Kyle sighed and took a seat next to me. What? I wanted to tell him '_did you finish that important stuff you wanted to do which you never did because you are a fucking liar?_' but of course, I couldn't.

"Hey." Kyle whispered to me when Mr. Adler started writing in the blackboard. "I'm sorry I had to leave early. If you want to, we can hang out in the second recess and I can show you around."

"Hmph…" I still felt a little pissed off. "I'll think about it."

"Well… ummm… ok, then." He said, not caring much at all.

I heard Kyle whisper. 'It's better that way.'

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Ah. Sorry, I was just talking to myself."

* * *

><p>I decided to go back home with Token and Butters 'cause I couldn't stand Cartman.<p>

"Do you have trouble walking?" Butters asked. "Want me to help you?"

"Dude, are you Ok?" Token asked me. "Is it my imagination or are you limping a bit?"

"I was in an accident. I can't remember much what happened, but when I woke up my whole body felt numb." I told them. "Luckily I didn't break any bones, but I damaged them so I had both of them plastered for a couple of months."

"That must have hurt a lot." Said Butters.

"Yeah, but I'm fine." I smiled. "Thanks for worrying, anyway."

"Good." Said Token. "I'll be going now, I have a date."

"Oh. Is it with Red?" Butters asked.

"Ah? Yeah." He blushed. "Bye, dude. Take care."

"You too." I answered.

"Hey guys! Hey guys! Hey guys! Oh my god! HEY GUYS!" Oh crap. The fat boy came running towards me, dragging Kenny along. No, not dragging him along, more like pulling him from his sleeve. "I just heard an awesome thing! We gotta try it out!"

"What awesome thing?" said Butters.

"Don't listen to him, it's fucking retarded." Kenny complained.

"What are you talking about? It's awesome! Look guys, we just have to fall asleep in Stark's Pond and- oh my god it is just AWESOME-"

"Ah… I don't get it…" I told him.

"You have to fall asleep in Stark's Pond and apparently your dreams become connected with the other people sleeping near you. Something like that." Kenny explained. "He was deceived by a fortune teller, it costed him $100. He paid one to see if he would become filthy rich in the future and if Kyle would die from AIDS but instead the old hag filled him with this shit and he's willing to do it 'cause he wasted $100 on it."

"I'm on Kenny's side, that is quite retarded." I told him. "And who the hell trusts fortune tellers."

"Oh? Are you scared, Stan?"

"No, of course not."

"So why don't you try? There is nothing to lose. Let's go there 9pm. Today!"

"I'll pass." Kenny sighed.

"What? Why? Is it work? Kinni, you don't even earn that much and your parents spend it all on alcohol! So why bother whoring yourself out for $1?"

"Shut up, Cartman! I don't whore myself out, I work as a bartender!" Kenny left fuming.

"Eric that was quite mean…!" Butters said.

"YOU BITCH TOO MUCH!" Cartman shouted at Kenny. "YOU HEARD ME?" COME BACK HERE!" Argh… Who cares? Anyways, you two. Today. At 9pm. Stark's Pond. You must come. It's going to be awesome!"

"Yeah! I can't wait to dream the same stuff you guys dream. Maybe we could dream of an adventure, and save a princess or fight monsters or go to an island or-"

I don't know if I should go… I didn't believe Cartman but there was nothing to lose. Except ending in Butters dream which would be pretty lame.

* * *

><p>I returned home and watched some TV. Connecting through a dream, huh? That would be cool but wouldn't it also be a bit… unprivate?<p>

Speaking about dreams… I don't know why I dreamt of that room...

I couldn't remember exactly how the accident went but I did remember the extreme pain I felt. And suddenly, there was no pain. Just numbness. Everything was black and I felt as if I was levitating. Then, I saw a bright light and found myself in another dimension. In dreams that didn't feel as if they belonged to me.

_"Welcome to the Velvet Room." An old man with a large nose, round eyes, pointy ears and gray hair was sitting on a luxurious cruiser cabin. I could see the vast sea from the rounded windows. There were many icebergs floating on the ocean. "Ah… a very intriguing guest indeed…" he chuckled._

_"Where I am…?" I had asked him. "What is this place…"_

_The room was covered in velvet blue. I couldn't help but notice the large suitcase hanging over the sofa. There was a large clock attached to it which was set to 8:59 pm. It didn't seem to move at all. _

_"Ah! Forgive my manners. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Igor… and this is Dywen, my assistant."_

_A beautiful woman with extremely long black hair tied with a butterfly clip who looked in her mid twenties greeted me with a professional smile._

_"Pleased to meet you."_

_"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter, memories and possibilities." Igor went on. "A room for those who gave forged a contract."_

_"A contract?"_

_"My dear guest. You want to wake up and return to your world. To your reality. Your desire is to avoid falling into deep slumber forever."_

_"Your strong wishes have manifested through the realms of dreams and those have reached the Velvet Room." Her assistant added. "As such you have been invited here to sign a contract."_

_"Sign a contract?"_

_"To accept full responsibility for your actions and embrace the truth. To face those challenges set upon you. That is what the contract is about. In exchange, you will wake up and embrace the world."_

_My head hurt... a lot._

_ "__I must remind you, my honorable guest, that there will be hard times. Times when you will want to leave everything behind and forget who you really are. Life is not an easy matter. Life... is so exiting to people like me and my assistant, who are just spectators of the remarkable lives of human beings."_

_I felt sleepy but I decided to sign it as long as I was allowed to wake up from this strange and eerie dream. _

_"__Very well… I shall see you again in another dream."_

And that's when I woke up. From both my dream and my coma.

* * *

><p><em><strong>II. ASLEEP<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Is everyone ready?" Said Cartman.<p>

"This will be awesome!" Said Butters.

"I d-d-d-on't th-th-th-ink it is a good i-d-d-eah" Cartman had dragged the crippled kid along too.

We all laid down on Stark's Pond shore.

"Guys! Close your eyes!" The fatboy commanded.

As expected. The minutes went by and nothing happened.

"Cartman I think we should stop now and just go home-"

"WHY THE FUCK AREN'T YOU SLEEPING! YOU NEED TO SLEEP OR ELSE IT WON'T WORK! EVERYONE! SLEEP! NOW!"

Another few minutes passed by but... yeah, you guessed, nothing.

I noticed there was a blonde guy with a bowl cut taking a nap near us. How could he be wearing a t-shirt when I was freezing in here? There was a strange haze surrounding him.

"Hey, there are few clouds in the sky, maybe tomorrow will be a sunn-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! BUTTERS SLEEP! GODDAMIT!"

"G-g-g-uys I think I better g-g-get going. My g-g-gu-girlfriend is waiting f-f-for me…"

"No, Jimmy! Bros over Hoes!"

"I'm s-s-sorry Eric, I need to g-g-go!"

"Fine! Fine! Just go, you crippled asshole! I'm going to stay here with mah real friends!"

"Jimmy went home, can I go too?"

"No you can't! You are going to stay here! We-"

"I'll go home now." I told him.

"WHY? You-"

"You are being a jerk, Cartman. You need to apologize to Jimmy. And you can't force us to-"

"Shut up, Stan! You are not leaving!"

"I'll leave. This is enough." I stood up, ready to take the road back home through the large pine trees. But there were no pine trees which made me scream from the shock.

"Ahh! Stan?!" Butters screamed as well. Instead of pine trees, there were sky buildings. The grass had been replaced with pavement and the lake had dried up.

"Where is Cartman?" Said Butters. I turned around but he was nowhere to be found. "We've got to search for him! Man, this city is huge!"

"WHO CARES ABOUT CARTMAN, LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

The gray buildings rose up into the sky, looking like fortresses. They had tons of little windows, and all of them were closed. There were a few traffic signs but no cars. The pavement had noticeable cracks, most of them were near the pedestrian crossings. The street light poles were flickering.

"It's chilly in here, isn't it?"

"Yeah." I answered back while hugging myself.

We noticed there were smiling puppets far away. The way they were posing made them look as if they were walking towards one direction.

"Hey! What's that! Let's take a look!"

"Butters!" I shouted and ran after him, but I accidentally bumped into someone.

"Ouch! Watch it, dude!"

"Hi. Emmm…"

It was the blonde kid with the bowl cut.

"Where are we?" We both said in unison. The puppets were starting to creep me out because I was pretty sure several of them had slightly flinched. One of the puppets had a disfigured face and a jewish kippah.

"My name is Bradley Biggle. What's yours?"

"I'm Stan Marsh."

"I think I heard that name somewhere."

"Really?"

"I can't remember when though. But I'm pretty sure everyone here has heard that name."

"Here?"

"Ah. I forgot we were dreaming! My bad." He apologized.

"Hey! How can you tell you are dreaming when you are on your dream?" I asked him. Yeah, since the moment I saw those sky-buildings I knew I was dreaming but of course this was my own dream and there was no way I was connected with Butters or that weird shit Cartman was talking about. However, it was unusual for someone to mention that your dream was, in fact, a dream.

The puppets were no longer smiling. I noticed the sun was a huge light bulb and that there were no plants to be found.

"This sucks." I sighed.

"Can I tag along?"

"Yeah, dude, fine by me."

We walked for a while. The buildings were getting taller and there were policeman puppets with their faces covered with grease. It was plain disgusting.

I noticed someone walking far away. Maybe it could be Butters or Cartman.

"Hey! Guys! Butters? Cartman? It's me! Stan! I'm here!" I waved my arms.

"Stan? Stan?"

I found another puppet who looked exactly like the one wearing the kippah. It moved slowly, in a creepy motion, and pointed at another puppet who looked like... like... what the hell?!

"That puppet looks like you! Amazing!" Said Bradley.

And then said puppet started bleeding, grew larger and larger, like a huge balloon and exploded.

"JESUS CHRIST!" I exclaimed. The other puppets started to explode in a similar way.

"We have to go, NOW!"

The huge light bulb in the sky broke whilst making a deafening sound and the fragments fell to the floor. We avoided most of them but I couldn't prevent getting a small cut from one.

"Shit! Shit! SHIT! Take cover!" Bradley ran after me.

A dark shadow approached us. It was a large black feline with light blueish-green eyes. It showed us its teeth.

"Run! RUN!" I screamed but Bradley just stood there. The feline cornered and circled him very slowly.

"Bradley! You have to move! Now!"

He didn't. He just stood there, going pale.

"Bradley!" I screamed but the feline turned around and jumped at me. He clawed me deep into my ribs and stomach. I screamed and bled all over the place.

I didn't know what to do. Run? Where? The puppets were blocking the previous paths and were pointing at me. The cracks on the pavement had increased in size.

"HELP! CARTMAN! BUTTERS! HELP ME! HELP ME! I'M BLEEDING! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

The beast pushed me to the ground. I could see it smile… it was frightening. It opened his mouth, ready to devour me.

"STAN!"

I heard a scream from a voice I didn't quite recognize and then saw smoke all around the place. Everything went black for a couple of seconds. I blinked and saw a figure fighting with the feline. It was wearing a large black cloak with its head covered by the cloak's hood. He was wielding a sword and had tombstones on his back. Then, I saw the city lights getting brighter and brighter, which made my eyes hurt like hell.

The feline decided to escape but before doing so, he grabbed Bradley with his teeth and threw him into the puppets, which started devouring him, organ per organ. It was very terrifying and disgusting. Before I realized it, I had already began throwing up.

"Stan! Stan! Stan!" Butters came running towards me. "Are you ok? Stan?"

"Bradley!" I was shaking. "… no way…"

"Stan… I don't know what happened but you have to remember this is a dream." Butters said calmly. "Let's wake up, ok?"

"Yeah… let's wake up before this gets worse…"

"Sure, I want to wake up, I just don't know how! And I'm not planing on killing myself to wake up!"

"I'm pretty sure there is another way, Stan." Butters told me. "Why don't we walk all the way back to the lake shore?"

"I don't think that will work... But as long as we get out of here, fine by me." I just wanted to wake up now. This place was insane!

"Let me help you…" Butters placed my arm on his shoulder and helped me walk. I was still bleeding.

"I know this is a dream… but this fucking hurts as if it were real…" I told him. The rest of the walk was silent. The puppets pointed at us.

"I couldn't find Eric…" Butters was worried. "But it doesn't matter, when we wake up, he will be there."

We finally arrived to the dried lake.

We sat down on the shore, admiring the clean waters. Wait… hadn't the lake dried up?

"Look, Stan! There is water on the lake!"

There were golden butterflies dancing above the lake. I began to feel sleepy and laid down. Butters did too. We both closed our eyes and chilled out for a bit.

* * *

><p>"Stan?" I heard Butter's voice. I slowly opened my eyes, still heavy with sleep. I could see the lake but there were no butterflies flying above it. Instead of the light bulb, there was the bright moon. I yawned and stretched my arms. "Stan! Did you dream the same as I did?"<p>

I looked around and only found Butters, who was very excited.

"I dreamt we were in a weird place with sky buildings and there were evil puppets, but Cartman got lost and I tried looking for him but I then heard you scream so I came back for you and you were injured, so I carried you back to the shore but we never found Eric and-"

Shit... so we had dreamt the same thing... What the... HOW?!

"Where is Cartman, anyway?"

"Fatboy must have gone home by now." I told him. I didn't want to remember that dream. My head was hurting like hell in this moment. I wanted to go home and rest.

"Yeah."

"Bradley as well."

Butters looked surprised.

"Bradley?"

"Yeah. When we were trying to sleep and Jimmy was with us, there was another guy taking a nap near us."

"How do you know his name is Bradley?" Butters was very confused.

"He told me in my dream. He had a bowl cut. Blonde hair, brown eyes. Bradley… Biggie… Baggie… Biggle! Bradley Biggle."

"So you saw him in your dream." Butters smiled. "That's nice."

"No. I saw him before I feel asleep. When Cartman was yelling at us."

"But you couldn't have seen him… Maybe you mistook him for another person."

"No, Butters. He told me his name was Bradley and it was the same guy taking a nap. Why is it so weird to you?"

"Because... Bradley was murdered two years ago... by C-"

* * *

><p><em>I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are really appreciated and keep me motivated! ^^<em>

_NEXT CHAPTER:  
><strong><strong>II. THE MIND OBLIVIOUS AND MISSING<strong>**_

_He smiled back. "So you are…" _

_"…I am what?" I said. Kyle rolled his eyes._

_"I'm asking your name. You sure have one."_

_My name? But… didn't he…_

**_"I- I'm Stan. Stan Marsh."_**

**_"Yeah. I know." He whispered._**

**_"You do?" I was surprised._**

**_"Huh." He nodded. "I checked on my register." He said. "As the school president I should know the name of most of the students. Particularly, the new ones."_**

_Wh-Why is he asking my name again?_

_"You know my name, dude." I told him._

_"No, I don't."_

_"But… you said you looked up my name in your register."_

_"My register?" He was confused._

_"Yeah. The register with every student in the school, including the new ones."_

_"Why the hell would I have a register and stalk everyone?"_

_"You TOLD ME my name. You said you had a register!"_

_"This is the first time I've seen you and… hey! Are you ok?"_


	2. TM Oblivious & Missing

_You wanted to tell me something. But I couldn't hear it._

_"KYLE! KYLE! **KYLE**!" You screamed my name._

_Everything was fading. Everything went black and white. A loud high pitched noise came from my own mind and threatened to destroy it. Said noise just increased and increased each time you tried to tell me what I needed to know._

_And then tears. Tears streamed down my face. I begged you to stop telling me that, because I couldn't handle the pain, the deafening noise, the grayness, everything. Because there was someone playing with my mind, I could sense it despite my numbness._

_So you stopped talking and held me like a precious crystal which might break at the slightest contact. I whispered 'I think I'm going mad… I think there is someone living in my head… just leave me alone'._

_"No." You answered. "I made a mistake. I won't leave you alone this time. Even if you lose your mind. Kyle." You pressed your forehead against mine and I could feel you were shaking._

_I smiled and the noise stopped. Everything stopped hurting and my chest felt relieved. And then, I wondered what were you doing here? And you panicked once again._

* * *

><p><strong>Dreamt Shoreline<strong>

****II. THE MIND OBLIVIOUS AND MISSING****

* * *

><p>(AN: _**Bold/italics** are flashbacks from chapter 1_)

"The fatass- I mean- Eric Cartman is missing?"

I had no idea who else to turn to. At first I didn't believe Butters when he said Cartman hadn't returned home since the dream incident. Still, my brain wouldn't process than Butters and I had been in the same dream, even if we both saw and remembered the same things.

"He's obviously faking, dude." The school president told me.

"You know… I also thought that. But Butters and I searched him everywhere. His mother told us he hasn't been home for three days, no one has seen him lately. He won't answer his phone or emails, he-"

"Dude. Dude. Calm down. Cartman is just… argh. He's just faking to make fun of you and Butters. I bet he told you something like '_We gotta do this stuff, it's so kewl_'" Kyle imitated Cartman's voice perfectly, I couldn't help but laugh.

"And" He continued "I'm sure he told you two to do stuff that sounded strange and was logically impossible. And then, he went lost so that you and Butters would say 'Hey, Cartman was right. This works. Where is Cartman right now? He is trapped in the dream!' So Cartman pretends he is missing, abducted, who knows. And you believe everything, then Cartman reappears and laughs at you guys for being stupid. And of course, then he tells everyone how dumb you were. That's the kind of guy he is."

Maybe he's right. The fatass must be faking it.

"Hey Kyle…"

"Huh?"

"Can you… imitate him again?"

"_'Oh mei gaahd you guys were sooo dumb, ha ha ha_! _I ken't believe you feel for it!_ _I'm laughing soo hard I'm not fat I'm big boned!_"

I thought the school president was serious and unreachable but he was funny as hell! I couldn't help but laugh a lot and smile. I'm starting to get a liking to this guy.

"Anyways, chill out. Just ignore him. Cartman really loves attention. And the world would be a much better place if he got missing… So let the world have its vacation from him." He sighed.

"I wanted to apologize, Kyle. Cartman told me to put some pills in your bagpack and I-"

"What? That . Nah. Don't worry about that." He smiled. "Just don't ever do what Cartman tells you to do. You are on my side now, are you?"

"Yup!" I nodded. "What to hang out?"

"I would love to but I need to speak to the principal." He apologized.

"It's ok. We can hang out anytime."

"Yeah. I don't know you that much but I think we could get along."

"Really?" I smiled.

"Yeah." He smiled back. "So you are…"

"…I am what?" Kyle rolled his eyes.

"I'm asking your name. You sure have one."

My name? But… didn't he…

**_"I- I'm Stan. Stan Marsh."_**

**_"Yeah. I know." He whispered._**

**_"You do?" I was surprised._**

**_"Ah! I checked on my register." He said. "As the school president I should know the name of most of the students. Specially the new ones."_**

**_"Oh I see…"_**

Wh-Why is he asking my name again?

"You know my name, dude." I told him.

"No, I don't." He answered back with his face clearly stating '_are you dumb or something?_'. "It's not like people in school have a name tag."

"But… you said you looked up my name in your register."

"My register?" He was confused.

"Yeah. The register with every student in the school, including the new ones."

"Why the hell would I have a register and stalk everyone?"

He… what? But he… wait, what is going on?

"Dude…" He said. "Are you alri-"

"You TOLD ME my name. You said you had a register!"

"I don't have a register! I mean, there is one available for everyone to look but I haven't checked it, nor printed it. In any case, the one in charge of the register would be the teachers or the principal. I don't really need a register… Look. This is the first time I've seen you and… hey! Are you ok?"

No, I wasn't ok.

**_"Go, buddy, he's right there."_**

**_"I can go later, I-"_**

Butters! That's it! Butters saw me talking to him.

"I… I've got to find Butters…"

"Wait!" He said but I had already left running, trying to find him.

"Butters!" I found him. "Butters!"

"Hey, Stan!" He beamed. "How are you doin-"

"Butters! Butters! I need to ask you a question!" I shook his shoulders.

"Y-yeah sure Stan, what is it?"

"Remember the first day I came to school?"

"Yeah… What about it?"

"We both saw Kyle and you told me to talk to him, didn't you?"

Those were the longest 2 seconds of my life.

"Yeah." He finally said. I knew it! I wasn't mad.

"So Kyle and I talked… didn't we?"

Butters scratched his head.

"I didn't see if you did because Cartman called me during that moment and I left."

"But then you asked me if I had spoken to Kyle."

"Ah. I remembered. You told me you didn't because he was busy." He said.

Yeah, Kyle was busy that day and pushed me away, but I did talk to him. And he told me he had looked up my name in his register.

"So we did talk!"

"I don't know, you told me you didn't." Butters looked confused.

"You asked me if I had asked Kyle about the school and that stuff!"

"Really? I thought I had asked you if you had talked with Kyle… That's strange… But why does it bothers you so much, Stan?"

"Because-! Look. We did have the same dream… which is already strange. And I swear I saw that guy, Bradley, who you said was murdered some time ago BEFORE I fell asleep and entered the dream! I thought… I was going mad or something!"

"Me too!" Said Butters. "I mean! I mean me going mad." He looked at me and muttered. "And maybe you going mad as well…"

I thought about Cartman. And this stupid trick. Part of me believed he was really missing but another more rational part of my brain told me this was all a bad joke.

"Hey, Stan? Where are you going?"

Was there something wrong with me? Or maybe with Kyle? Or both of us? I swear I heard him call my name and that we met the first day. Also… how could he said this was the first time he had seen me when we are in the same classroom? I'm not one of those guys people never notice, am I? I also sit close to him… it didn't make sense at all…

I was so lost in thought that I hadn't only forgotten Butters and walked away, but I didn't notice the stairs either. I forgot my legs were still recovering from the accident so I wasn't careful when going down the stairs. I tripped over and slightly twisted my ankle.

"Shit…" It hurt. I wanted to stand up but I needed some help. Someone who could pull me up. I was lucky there was a guy going down the stairs.

"Hey, could you help me stand up?" I turned over to face him after asking for help and realized said guy was the one with the chuyo. Shit.

"No." He said bluntly.

"Dude. I'm not asking you to carry me, just give me a hand and I'll use the stair handrail to support my weight."

"No." He said once again.

I felt humiliated under his gaze. He was standing there with a proud but monotone expression while I laid down on the floor. I thought he would just go away since the asshole said he wouldn't help me but he just stayed there looking at me. And it pissed me off.

"If you aren't going to help me at least tell somebody else to come here!"

"Oh? Are you bossing me around?" He said with a threatening expression, sending chills down my spine.

I wanted to tell him that he was being a total dick but by seeing how tall he was, his athletic built and hellish frightening eyes I decided I would back off and wait for someone else. It wasn't worth fighting this guy and I would probably lose anyways. No matter how hard I wanted to hit his face.

"Aren't you going to fight back?" He asked in a calm manner.

"Just leave me alone." I said.

"How lame…" He said.

"Look. You don't want to help me, that's fine. But would you please stop staring at me and do whatever else you had to do."

"Perhaps I could help…" His cynical smile hinted malicious intentions… I wasn't sure but I could sense it. He walked towards me and extended his hand.

"I'll help you reach the stair handrail." He said. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I believed him to be and I was being paranoid.

By grabbing his hand I would manage to stand up and support my weight on the handrail. What could be the worst that could happen? That he retreats his hand, tells me he changed up his mind and leaves so I end up in the same way I am now? Or that he pulls me so hard that so that I fall once again? Sure, that would be humiliating as hell… but that would be no different from the way I'm right now… except I would be cursing his name. Plus, if he pulls me and wants me to fall or something like that, I could quickly grab the handrail. That's it. If he wants to taunt me or something, I'll grab him anyways and use him to grab the handrail.

So I decided to take a chance and grabbed his hand. Good. He didn't withdrew it and he didn't pull he hard so that I fell in the opposite direction. In fact, he did nothing at all. He just held it firmly. But then, he grabbed my other hand and smiled maliciously. He placed both of my hands near the handrail.

As soon as I grabbed it, I felt a tremendous amount of pain. I tried to move but realized the more I tried to free myself, the more it hurt. My arms were being fiercely pulled towards him while I was still kneeling and he was stomping on my ankle! He was trying to break it with a joint lock!

"You reached the handrail, didn't you?" He said while he stomped on it even harder. I screamed from the pain. He laughed.

"HEY! What's going on there!" I heard Mr. Adler.

"Oh." He released me and kicked me down the stairs. "You are smart enough to know what will happen to you if you say anything… I have students working for me, they will be checking you." He pulled my hair and whispered into my ear with an icy voice. "You fell from the stairs… ok?"

He left.

* * *

><p>"Eric Cartman. Eric Cartman? Absent again?" Mr. Adler put down his list. "Does anyone know what's up with him? Is he sick or something?"<p>

A week and a few days had passed since Cartman went missing. On the meanwhile, I became best friends with Kyle. We had so much in common. We liked the same stuff, we laughed of stupid things and we had a lot of fun just by being together. I wondered where he had been all this time and why weren't we childhood friends. We would have been inseparable.

Luckily, my ankle wasn't broken because Mr. Adler had arrived just on time and Craig fled. My legs were getting better and better each day, although I slightly limped.

"What the hell is that asshole's problem?" I exclaimed after telling Kyle what the chuyo guy nearly did to me.

"Craig's a bully, so try to avoid him. I hate him too. He drew a strange rocket on the Student Council's whiteboard and when I tried to erase it, it ended up as huge penis! You cannot imagine how embarrassed I was! Two teachers and the principal were there that day because we were discussing an important issue! And the whiteboard had a giant dick!" I chuckled. "It's not funny!" I couldn't help but laugh. Plus, Kyle looked hilarious when he was flustered.

"Still, drawing a giant dick is much better than trying to break someone's ankle." I told him.

"And it was too explicit and had hairs and it was too embarrassing!" Kyle started screaming. "I had to apologize to the teachers and the principal."

"Was it circumcised or uncircumcised?" I asked jokingly.

"Hmmm… it was circumcised… Hey! Why the hell does it even matter?" He complained and I laughed.

"And how did that rocket drawing turned into a dick?"

"He must have drawn the dick with normal markers and the 'rocket' outfit with whiteboard markers. The whiteboard eraser cannot erase normal markers. So I ended up erasing whatever made his drawing look like an awkward rocket. Ugh, I hate him!"

Despite hating Craig I couldn't help but laugh. Kyle was angry but ended up laughing as well.

"Cartman is still missing. Do you really think he is faking?" I asked him.

"Hmm… being missing a week and a half is indeed strange… and no one hasn't found him yet… when was the last time you saw him?"

I told him about the dream incident.

"WHAT? You-"

"Yeah. I couldn't believe it at first."

"I don't want to be a jerk or anything but I don't believe you. But… supposing it was real, did you attempt to return to that dream?"

"Huh?" That didn't occur to me…

"Why don't you and Butters try to enter the dream again? It sounds stupid, I know. But in case what you tell me is true, then it should work, right?"

"Kyle! You're a genius! I love you, dude!" He smiled.

I saw Kyle writing some stuff on his iPhone.

"Ah! I hope you don't mind writing what you told me in here." He told me.

"Why are you writing it?"

Kyle managed a weak smile.

"My brother told me my memory has been letting me down recently so he told me it would be a good idea to write some stuff in some new app he made for me."

"Your memory has been letting you down?"

"Yeah… Well, sometimes. I remember most of the stuff I do but I feel as if there is something missing. I just don't know why. So he helped me and developed this app. He said this would 'protect me'. I don't know why would an app 'protect me' but he developed it with all his heart so I'm using it."

"Oh, I see. Hey! Do you want to try to get into the dream with us?"

"I don't believe that stuff… I still think Cartman might be playing with you."

"It felt real to me. You should see it for yourself. Come to Stark's Pond at 9pm with us."

"No way things like that could happen… but I'll come to let you see Cartman is playing with you."

"You are coming? Great! I'll tell Butters."

"Sure. I'll be there." He smiled and wrote it on his phone app. "I promise."

* * *

><p>But Kyle never came.<p>

I called him and texted him but there was no answer. His phone was dead.

"Let's lay down and close our eyes, just like Eric said."

I laid down next to Butters and looked at the bright stars. I closed my eyes and waited until I felt the ground get another texture. Instead of the usual grass I felt concrete.

"We are dreaming once again!" Butters exclaimed in excitement.

We explored the strange place. It had gotten weirder since the last time. I looked for the black feline but I couldn't find it. I sighed from relief and kept walking.

"Stan!" Bradley greeted me.

Bradley? Wasn't he dead?

"Wait… Didn't you get killed?" I asked him. I didn't want to be that direct but it just slipped out of my mouth.

"Now, now, Stan. It is a dream so we can dream of Bradley too. So in our dream he is still alive." Butters was right. This was a dream, so why would dreaming of a dead person be strange?

It is strange because I've never met that guy, yet he told me his full name and his physical appearance was identical to the guy that died. And I knew it because after waking up I research upon the person named Bradley. How could you dream of a dead guy you had never met before in your whole life?

"I did get killed, Stan." Bradley smiled. "But no one cared enough to find out who killed me."

"You got killed by the black feline in my previous dream…" I told him.

Bradley rolled his eyes and smiled.

"I'm talking about who killed me… in the real world. You see, Stan, I'm trapped in here and I don't like this place. You can enter this world and leave as you please. But I can't."

I noticed his skin color was turning darker.

I was killed before it was my time, so my soul must stay here until a certain amount of time passes."

Butters started shaking.

"Well, that's scary…" was all he could say.

"Butters… who killed me? Do you know?" Bradley asked him

"I… I…"

"Bradley, emmm," I tried to change the topic. "Have you seen Cartman?"

"Who cares about Cartman. He is always manipulating people and using scapegoats to do as he pleases. I am now trapped in this little twisted world of his. Why are you free Stan? Why? While I'm here, trapped. I did nothing wrong… it's unfair…"

"Bradley, look dude,"

"No. You'll stay here as well. Your corpse will."

Bradley's face started disfiguring. His limbs were beginning to look more puppet-like, there were strings attached to his back and an antique gun materialized on his hand.

"Oh boy…" Said Butters.

Butters and I ran and ran while the strange puppet followed us.

"Butters!" I panted. "Let's return to the shore!"

However, a wall made up of cotton and puppet limbs prevented us from escaping. The buildings got taller and video recorders floated in the air.

"STAN!" Butters screamed. Bradley was behind me and hit me. He started to tie my hands with a thin cord. Then his limbs extended and he pressed his gun against Butters' forehead.

"You are not needed. You are useless." He told him and got ready to fire.

"BUTTERS!"

"Don't worry, Stan. I'll just wake up. It is a dream, right?"

_"If you die here, you die there."_ I heard a woman's voice. _"Don't let him die, Stan."_

I was teleported to the strange Velvet Room in a matter of seconds.

"We meet once again, my honorable guest." The man with the large nose greeted me. "I'm deeply saddened that this encounter will be short. You are now in a dream within a dream…"

"All I can tell you is that what you are experiencing right now is real and imaginary at the same time." Said his assistant. I recognized her voice as the one who told me Butters could die. "There is a thin line between what is real and what it is not. You are now in the borderline where one alters the other. What takes place in here can also carry to the other dimension. So you need to be careful in both realms."

"Do not be alarmed, young man." Igor, the old man, told me. "You have a unique power in this world. It is up to you to use it correctly. After all, you signed a contract." He chuckled. "Well, then. Until our next meeting."

I was once again back in the strange world. Butters was scared and the puppet was about to fire the gun.

"Stan! Don't worry. I'll just wake up."

"No! No you won't! Butters!" I felt a strange shadow emerging from me. Said humanoid shadow attacked the puppet. A small tornado formed around the puppet and undid its strings.

My head hurt a lot. Even so, I managed to control the humanlike shadow that was emerging from me.

"Thou art I, and I am thou. I am Seth, god of the desert storms."

The winds were cutting the puppet and wool was coming out. There was blood in that wool.

"Stan! There are other strange shadows coming!"

The other shadows materialized into other puppets. When I turned around to face them, the thing that had materialized from me turned to that same direction and attacked them with wind gusts. The Bradley Puppet crawled towards me but I managed to cut him even more.

"Stan… Marsh…" Said Bradley, agonizing. "…You… shouldn't return… to this world… You… won't like… what you…-" The puppet disintegrated.

I looked at him, feeling sorry for what I did. I didn't want to attack him but what if it was true? That if you died in here, you died in the real world?

I noticed I had a slight cut on my wrist due to the strings of the puppet.

There was a piece of paper on top of Bradley's puppet corpse. It was a map with an X. It was a very accurate portrayal of the roads in this dream.

"Woah! Stan! That was so cool! How did that thing came out of you? Stan?" I was still shocked from the event… I didn't mean to hurt Bradley. And what was that thing that came out of me. This was… all of this wasn't real, right?

I felt exhausted and my legs gave in. Butters placed my arm around his neck and carried me.

"Stan… You'll feel better when you wake up." He smiled. "Thanks for saving me. You are a great friend."

I smiled but I was too tired to talk.

"Look, Stan! There is a shadow in the distance!"

It looked like a fat guy… Cartman?

I pulled out the piece of paper and noticed the X was marked on the same place that shadow was located. I wanted to go there and see if Cartman was really trapped in there, but I was too tired and could barely move.

"Let's go back… we have had enough for today." Said Butters.

We arrived at the shore and woke up from said dream. I knew we woke up because I could see the lake, the stars in the sky, the trees and the usual countryside. But I still felt tired. I looked at my wrists… there were…

"Marks? There are marks on my wrists!"

"Yeah. The puppet tied your wrists but as soon as that thing emerged from you, the strings broke down."

"BUTTERS! That happened in the dream! Are we still dreaming?"

"You're right! I don't know if we are dreaming!"

The lake in the dream was dry. On the real life, said lake was filled with water. The lake I was currently seeing had water on it. And there were the stars, and the trees and everything I remembered.

"Cartman! We've got to save Cartman!"

"Yeah, we must."

"No, Butters, you don't understand! What happens in there, happens in here too! Look, in the dream I had my wrists tied up. I woke up and I have the marks! And…" Oh. No. It can't be… "I…"

"What's wrong, Stan?"

"I… have this map I got from Bradley… but this makes no sense!"

"We must enter the dream, Stan! Cartman is in danger!"

We tried. But we couldn't. We laid down for minutes, hours perhaps but all we could see were the stars.

"It's no use, Stan. We will have to come back tomorrow…"

* * *

><p>The next day in school I decided to take a look at the map. It had changed. Instead of showing the buildings, the puppet signs and the roads found on that dream, it showed the place where Stark's Pond was located. The X was near some pine trees. Something was off…<p>

"Hey! Stan!"

Kyle greeted me.

"Hey, dude. I'm sorry I wasn't able to go. I really wanted to but… well, you wouldn't believe what happened to me."

"No problem, dude. Butters and I have to return to that dream anyways. So, why didn't you come yesterday."

"…Someone kidnapped me and locked me in the gym storeroom…"

"… WHAT?"

"I left the supermarket and was on my way home when someone grabbed me from behind and forced me to inhale a towel with a sleep-inducing substance. When I woke up, I was locked in there. There was a graffiti that said '_Stay away from Sync Dreams. For your friend's sake_'…


	3. TP Pills & Mother

_Mom can't save me._

_Dad._

_Dad… left me._

_My little brother..._

_Ike is scared… of me. _

_Save me._

_Please._

_I'm the lowest._

_Asking a suicidal person to save my sanity…_

_Hah…_

* * *

><p><strong>Dreamt Shoreline<strong>

**III. THE PSYCHE, PILLS & MOTHER **

* * *

><p><em>Stay away from Sync Dreams. For your friend's sake.<em>

"For your friend's sake?" Stan said. He was worried, so was I.

"Yeah… I thought it meant you… or Butters…" I wasn't sure… but I didn't want anyone to hurt them.

"Who could have kidnapped you?"

"If I knew, then I would have already beat the shit out of them!"

"But… you have no idea?"

"It has to be someone from the school." I figured. "Since they locked me in the gym room, so they know their way around it. Definitely male, because the kidnapper carried me there."

"There are strong girls, you know. Like my sister… god, I hate her."

I couldn't remember how it happened! When I opened my eyes, I was already shut in there, with that strange warning. I noticed I had no bruises, I still kept my wallet and that my body didn't hurt anywhere, so the kidnapper had been gentle. Still, that is no excuse for kidnapping me and confusing the shit out of me with that warning. I still didn't completely believe in Stan's "dream sync" or however you might call it. So having a warning about it... meant…

"It was probably Cartman and his stupid joke! That's it! He is the only one who knows about the dreams besides you, Butters and me!" I screamed.

"Cartman? But he's missing!"

"Dude! He's PLAYING with you! He is a manipulative bastard! He sees everyone of us as puppets for his own amusement! He believes he is the ultimate mastermind of mankind,surrounded by sky buildings and people telling him how almighty he is! He believes he lives in the highest sky building of all, looking down at all of us! I hate him!"

Stan went quiet for a while. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Then Cartman is really in trouble…" Stan whispered and looked worried.

"WHAT?" Did he hear anything I said before? How could he say Cartman is in trouble when he is the prime suspect for kidnapping and locking me there!

"Kyle! Cartman is missing, I'm sure of it! Besides, in the dream there are puppets, sky buildings and everything you said! Cartman cried for our help in there! He is trapped!"

"Oh…" I smiled sarcastically. "And now you are going to tell me that there is a jewish puppet in there which kind of looks like me and there is a huge light bulb in the sky because Cartman is a fucking genius…"

"Yes, there is!"

"Stan… I know you had an accident and woke up from it so your head isn't working the right way. You should get some sleep. Really."

"I just… I just can't stay here with my arms crossed and do nothing after going through that weird shit and knowing that someone is trapped in there!" Stan wasn't listening to me. Did he really believe Cartman was caught in there?

"Stan… you are NOT OKAY. I heard you had a brief comma after the accident, so your mind is still adapting and it will take some time…"

"I am fine, Kyle! I just can't get why you don't believe me!" Stan screamed at me. How dare he, when he is the one saying weird shit!

"No, Stan. You are not fine! Your head isn't working properly and Butters believes everything you tell him!"

"Kyle! You don't believe me because you haven't seen it. So fuck the kidnapper, come with me to Stark's Pond at 6pm and I'll show you!"

"… Ok… I'll prove you are wrong. Besides, now that I know who kidnapped me, I will place KFC all over the place to lure him out of my way." I chuckled and expected Stan to do so but he didn't. I can't believe he still thought Cartman was in there.

"Ok! You're on! I'll also keep an eye on you in case the kidnapper returns."

"Thanks!" I smiled. And then I remember what Tucker had done to him. "I'll keep an eye on you too!" I swear if I see Tucker I will break his nuts.

* * *

><p>I was lucky enough to meet that bastard on the hallways during the lunch break.<p>

"Hey!" I ran after him. "HEY!"

"What." Said Craig, monotonously.

"What the FUCK did you try to do to Stan?" I yelled to him.

"Umm… what?" He was surprised.

"You know he is limping a bit yet you go there and try to twist his ankle when he was only asking for your help. What kind of sick bastard are you?"

He stood there, silent for a couple of seconds until he told me that wasn't my problem.

"WHAT? He is my friend! You mess with Stan, you mess with me!"

"I do mess with you." He told me.

"Well, DON'T!" He shouted. "I HATE IT!"

"So… I tried to break Stan's ankle… what are you going to do?" He challenged me.

"You're gonna pay for it! I'll tell the principal-" Craig approached me, he was making me nervous and yet more flustered.

"You tell her that, I will beat you up… Do you like getting beaten up, Broflovski?" He clenched his fist, what a show off! Did that scare me? No. And he noticed it, so he stopped clenching his fist and just looked at me. He didn't looked surprised at all that I didn't flinch.

"You think I care?" I didn't back off. "You think a few bruises will make me shut up? Come on, hit me! But I'm still telling the principal! And you are getting kicked out of this school!"

Craig looked surprised and then smiled. He lifted my chin and his thumb caressed my lower lip.

"Why can't you be like Marsh and shut up when you know you will lose?"

He cupped my chin. I pushed off his stupid hand.

"Don't – touch – me" I warned him, very angry.

"I want to ask you something, Mr. School President."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Ok. Don't. It's better this way." He said and began walking towards the classroom.

I didn't want to hear it. It was something stupid, I'm sure. Maybe an insult, who knows. I definitely didn't want to hear it…

I didn't want to hear it.

"Ok. Just tell me." I swear I didn't want to hear it.

"No." He said. But curiosity got the best of me.

"You are going to ask me whatever you planned to right now or else I'll-!"

"You are really moody today."

"SHUT UP AND JUST TELL ME!" Seriously, I was really irritated. Being kidnapped by Cartman, then Stan believing in dreams and stuff, and now Craig!

Said guy hesitated a lot for a couple of minutes. He turned around and resumed his way towards the classroom. I won't let him run away.

"JUST TELL ME!" I screamed at him. I was desperate for knowing the question. It didn't feel like plain curiosity. I didn't know why.

"Okay…" He sighed. "When is you mother's anniversary?"

"What? My mother's anniversary? Why the hell would you care when my mother got married-" I heard a loud, high pitched deafening noise. Where was it coming from? I grabbed my head. It hurt… a lot. I think I screamed, I'm not so sure…

Before I fainted, I heard Craig's voice.

"How _convenient_…" He said.

* * *

><p>I opened my eyes… Where was I…?<p>

"Kyle! Kyle!" I heard Butters' voice.

"Butters?"

"Thanks god you are ok!" He smiled. "Here!" He handed me a sandwich.

"Oh! Thanks! I'm quite hungry." I smiled at him.

I was in the infirmary room. Why? I looked around and saw Craig Tucker taking a pill.

"You!" I pointed at him. "What the FUCK did you try to do to Stan?"

"What?" Said Butters. "What did Craig do?" I ignored him. This wasn't Butters' business.

"You know he is limping a bit yet you go there and try to twist his ankle when he was only asking for help. What kind of sick bastard are you?" I screamed. I was really angry at him.

Craig looked at me with a gloomy face, then grabbed another pill from the bottle.

"Mr. Tucker! You can only take one pill at a time!" The nurse took the pill away from him.

"He is my friend! You mess with Stan, you mess with me!" I continued. Craig sighed and left.

"Craig really did that to Stan? That isn't nice at all… I wonder why he did that…" Said Butters. "Craig is a nice person, although he's a little strange…"

"He is not nice at all, how dare he do that to Stan! Anyways, I need to talk to the principal about that, I still have time. We are still on lunch break and I know where I can find her."

"Umm… Kyle…" Said Butters.

"Yeah?"

"Nothing." Butters smiled weakly.

I stood up, prepared to talk with the principal about what Craig did. I couldn't talk to her yesterday because school had ended and she had already left but I had reminded myself to talk to her.

"Kyle! Wait!"

I left the first aid room and noticed there was no one at school.

"Oh. Did lunch break end already?" I looked at my watch. It definitely wasn't lunch break. In fact, classes would have already ended by now. How did it get so late?

"Kyle, you should rest." Butters told me.

"Did I faint or something?"

"Yeah…" Said Butters. "Umm… your pressure lowered and you fainted. But you feel better now, don't you?"

"Yeah… Thanks…"

"Want another sandwich?" Butters asked me.

"Butters… I…"

"What is it, Kyle."

A few minutes ago, we were on lunch break. How did time had passed so quickly? When did I faint? What was I doing before I fainted? Why did my head hurt so much?

"I think there is something wrong with me.

"No, there's nothing wrong with you Kyle!" Butters smiled "You just… fainted. That's why you are feeling weird."

"Where did I faint?"

"I like these sandwiches, they are so good."

"Butters… where did I faint?"

"Don't you like them, Kyle? I have juice too, do you want some?" Butters smiled nervously. He was being very evasive.

"Butters… just tell me where did I faint." My voice was dead serious.

"I have to do my homework. See ya." Butters left. I didn't care… I'm sure my head will clear up in a few minutes.

My phone vibrated. There was a message sent by Stan.

_"Stark's Pond, 6pm."_

* * *

><p><strong><em>"Im sry :( Ike has hmwk. Maybe 2morrow" <em>**I sent the sms to Stan.

I know I said I would come... but Ike had a lot of homework and needed my help. He is my little brother, how could I not help him? Besides, I would just lose time staying there, trying to prove Stan he was wrong and Cartman was the guilty man in there.

Time passed by. 6:30pm. 7:00pm. 7:30pm… Stan called me.

"Hey! Nothing is happening! I want to give up!"

"As soon as I'm done with Ike, I'll go right there. We are nearly done-"

"Cookie Monster?" Ike said. When he was little, he sometimes said Cookie Monster out of the blue. And there was one time I was very angry, and Ike just screamed 'Kyle is the cookie monster! Ruuun!'. I just laughed because it had been adorable. I can't believe he is still calling me that when he wants to get my attention.

"Give me a sec, Ike. Stan, Ike's homework is a piece of cake so I'll be there at 8pm-"

"But Kyle, we still have maths to do."

"That's due next week!"

"But I want to do it now!"

"Ok, ok. Stan, I can't go today. Let's try again tomorrow, ok?"

"Argh, that sucks." Stan said. "Can't Ike do his homework alone?"

"Yeah… he can… but he wants some help. And there is nothing wrong with it. See ya tomorrow, bye." I hanged up.

Ike smiled and I helped him with an assignment due for the day after tomorrow.

"Cookie monster!"

"I told you to stop calling me that…"

"Do you know anything about mom?"

Huh? This brings me a sort of dejavu. Did someone ask me a similar question before?

"Hmm… well, that she is our mother, she has red hair like me and that she is still in Connecticut with her sister. She said she would return tomorrow. She called me yesterday and told me that."

"I see…" Ike said, he looked very sad. Then, he started crying.

"Ike…"

"I miss her!" He cried on my shoulder.

"Ike, she will come back tomorrow, just wait." But Ike kept crying and I couldn't sleep that night.

* * *

><p>I woke up and made my way towards the student council. It was still early in the morning. I noticed the markers had been replaced with non-whiteboard ones before using them. And there was a middle finger drawn with regular markers. Craig, as usual, was testing my patience.<p>

I sighed and decided I would deal with that retard later.

"Kyle!" Stan greeted me. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." I invited him to the student council meeting room. There was nobody here yet.

"Bebe should come in a few minutes."

"Why is there a middle finger in there?" Stan asked.

"Just help me erase it…" I frowned.

After erasing the drawing, I decided to tidy up the room. I noticed Stan looking at a photo placed in a wood portrait.

"Who is this little girl?"

"That's Wendy Testaburger. When she was 10 years old."

"Huh? And why is the photo of this 10 year old girl here?"

"Because she should have been the School President. She used to say that she would make an excellent job of it and that it was one of her goals in life. She was very smart and I know she would have been a better School President than me."

"And why didn't she become the School President? Or at least vicepresident."

"Because dead people can't be school presidents…" I lowered my gaze.

"I'm sorry… I didn't want to-"

"It's okay. We weren't that close but Bebe thought it would be nice to keep her photo in here."

"Umm… I don't want to be insensitive but… how did she die…"

"I'm not sure. I heard she had a terminal illness."

"Oh."

I know that Wendy fought until the very end but she still met her fate. It makes me sad to realize someone I knew since elementary school died. Someone who had so much life ahead of her. Things like these challenged my faith. Wendy did nothing wrong, neither her parents, so why did she had to die?

* * *

><p>Stan told me to come to the shore but I couldn't because Ike kept bugging me not to. He wanted to buy three new books but didn't know which ones.<p>

I thought we would speak or anything but the whole trip to the bookstore was silent. I tried striking up conversations but Ike just answered with 'oh's, 'huh's, and 'yeah'.

"Ike… you have been very quiet. What is wrong with you?"

"I miss my mom." He said bluntly.

"Don't worry." I grinned. I had to tell him the big surprise. "Mom phoned me yesterday! And guessed what she said? That she is coming tomorrow!" I cheered him up. I also mis her a lot but she will be here tomorrow.

Ike sighed and said he needed to go to the bathroom. He ran. What is wrong with him?

I ran after him and noticed he was talking with someone over the phone. I know I shouldn't overhear conversations… But I couldn't step away when Ike was crying!

"Ike?" I said, in the sweetest voice I could manage. I was worried about him.

"I don't know what to do!" He sobbed to whoever he was calling. "I don't know! Please… what can I do…."

Who was the talking to?

"I don't want…" Ike went on. "I don't want Kyle to go insane again! Help me! HELP ME!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** Kyle believes Stan is wrong yet we do know there is something wrong with Kyle ;)_

_Kyle tends to be a little bit grumpy and moody sometimes, but that keeps him from being a 'Mary Sue'. So I didn't want to forget about this part of him that comes out whenever Cartman is involved or when someone disagrees with him and (even worse) defends Cartman. Of course, Kyle won't be moody all the time. He is adorable and has a huge heart, I love him! But I also love him when he is on his PMS._

_See you in the next chapter!_


	4. TM Troubled & High

_"Kyle! KYLE!" I panicked. Kyle was writhing in pain on the floor and grabbing his head._

_"What happened! IKE!"_

_"He is in pain! He is throwing up!" I screamed on the mobile phone. _

_"Where are you?"_

_"We are in Colorden! In the bathrooms! Near the food court and the library!"_

_"Shit! It's 9:55pm! The mall will close in five minutes!"_

_"You need to hurry!"_

_"Hang on! Colorden is half an hour away from this shitty town. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. I'll be right there, hold on."_

_"Please hurry! He is getting worse! He is-" My mobile phone was taken away from me. I turned around and noticed Kyle had already stood up. He had my phone on his hands and hanged up. His eyes had changed._

_"Ike…" He looked at me, his eyes devoid of any happiness. He took off his ushanka, threw it violently on the floor and stepped on it._

* * *

><p><strong>Dreamt Shoreline<strong>

**IV. THE MIND, TROUBLED AND HIGH**

_Note: Stan's POV of last chapter_

* * *

><p>"It was probably Cartman and his stupid joke! That's it! He is the only one who knows about the dreams besides you, Butters and me!" Kyle screamed.<p>

"Cartman? But he's missing!"

I don't have any proof but I had a hunch it wasn't him. He was missing and I believe he is trapped in there. He couldn't have gone missing just to annoy me. I mean, a day or two, okay, Cartman might be faking it. But a shitload of days have passed since then! And Kyle won't listen to anything I say! I opened my mouth to speak but once again Kyle cut me off.

"Dude! He's PLAYING with you! He is a manipulative bastard! He sees everyone of us as puppets for his own amusement! He believes he is the ultimate mastermind of mankind, surrounded by sky buildings and people telling him how almighty he is! He believes he lives in the highest sky building of all, looking down at all of us! I hate him!"

Wait… what? How did he…

I get it. If that is what Cartman thinks, then aren't dreams made of stuff you believe or pure symbolism? There were sky buildings and tons of puppets. Could it be that Cartman… is trapped in his own 'dream'?

"Then Cartman is really in trouble…" I said in a low voice. Maybe his own greed and his own flaws were trapping him in there. I was about to tell Kyle about how the dream looked like but he cut me off once more.

"WHAT?"

Why does Kyle hate Cartman so much?By the way, Kyle seemed to be kind of moody today. Usually, he was nicer but god knows what got inside of him today. Moody or not, he had to understand one thing: Cartman was really missing and I needed his help to find him. Kyle is very smart and knows how Cartman thinks so he will find a way out of it.

"Kyle! Cartman is missing, I'm sure of it! Besides, in the dream there are puppets, sky buildings and everything you said! Cartman cried for our help in there! He is trapped!"

"Oh…" He smiled sarcastically. "And now you are going to tell me that there is a Jewish puppet in there which kind of looks like me and there is a huge light bulb in the sky because Cartman is a fucking genius…"

There was a creepy puppet with a Jewish kippah! Now that I remember it, it had curls but his face was disfigured. Maybe it was Kyle through Cartman's twisted mind. Which made me… sick.

"Yes, there is!" I wanted to tell Kyle that said puppet had a disfigured face but I think that seeing how grumpy he was right now I should better keep my mouth shut.

"Stan… I know you had an accident and woke up from it so your head isn't working the right way. You should get some sleep. Really." He said in a sweet voice which didn't soothe me at all!

"I just… I just can't stay here with my arms crossed and do nothing after going through that weird shit and knowing that someone is trapped in there!" Why couldn't Kyle get that Cartman is trapped in there! Why did he insist that he was faking it? Couldn't he see that Cartman, IF he was joking, was taking said 'joke' too far?

"Stan… you are NOT OKAY. I heard you had a brief comma after the accident, so your mind is still adapting and it will take some time…"

"I am fine, Kyle! I just can't get why you don't believe me!" I screamed at him. Maybe that way it could get into his head. Don't get me wrong, I like Kyle a lot. He is a super friend and fun to hang out with but if there is one thing I would change about him is when he gets amazingly stubborn!

"No, Stan. You are not fine! Your head isn't working properly and Butters believes everything you tell him!" Argh. What? I can't believe he is saying that. Shit!

"Kyle! You don't believe me because you haven't seen it. So fuck the kidnapper, come with me to Stark's Pond at 6pm and I'll show you!"

"… Ok… I'll prove you are wrong. Besides, now that I know who kidnapped me, I will place KFC all over the place to lure him out of my way." He chuckled but now I was the irritable one because Kyle just didn't fucking believe me. Couldn't he just accept he was wrong?

"Ok! You're on! I'll also keep an eye on you in case the kidnapper returns."

"Thanks!" He smiled. He seemed to appreciate what I said. "I'll keep an eye on you too!" And then his expression got a little grumpier once again. I'm seriously starting to believe what Cartman said about Kyle having his periods.

* * *

><p>"Stan!" Butters greeted me when the lunch break started. "I'm worried about Cartman… I've been having nightmares about him."<p>

"We've got to find him soon!"

"He is in there, but we don't know where to find him. The place is huge and it… creeps me out."

"I know where we can find him. I talked to Kyle and he said Cartman believes he lives in the highest sky building of all because he looks down at everyone."

"So we have to find the highest sky building?"

"Yeah."

"And are we going to climb it?" He grinned.

Duuude… And he sounded eager about it!

"NO! Butters, we will enter the building and use the elevator."

"Oh. That's better."

"Yeaaah… It's definitely better than climbing a sky building with our bare hands and waking up before we reach the fourth floor. If we don't fall first, of course."

"But isn't it safer to climb it?"

"How could that be safer?"

"Aren't there going to be, you know, puppets inside the building?"

"Oh… shit." He's right.

I heard some screams. Someone was in pain and his voice sounded I realized it was Kyle's.

"KYLE!" I screamed and was about to leave the room but before I could run Butters grabbed me.

"It's okay, Stan, he's having another attack."

"An attack? You mean a heart attack? Jesus Christ!" I tried to run but Butters held me once again.

"No. It's just that… He just screams and screams for no reason then he faints. Most people in the school knows he does that so just let the nurse take care of him."

"What?"

"He will be ok Stan. Don't worry." The screaming stopped. Most students left whatever they were doing to find out where the screams came from.

"Why… why does Kyle-"

"He saw a brutal murder." My eyes opened wide and Butters stammered a bit. "I shouldn't have told you about this, you know. You are Kyle's friend so maybe he will tell you one day but I don't want to open my mouth more than I should. I don't want to be spilling my friends' secrets!"

"Was it Bradley's murder?"

"No." Butters shook his head. "Kyle wasn't in South Park when Bradley got murdered. Besides, the person murdered was very close to him. Kyle and Bradley didn't talk that much. The three of us were classmates but Bradley joined Cartman's group. He made a huge mistake which cost him his life."

"I want to see Kyle, I'm worried!"

But Butters didn't let me go. He was still grabbing my jacket.

"Just let him rest. Ah! And Kyle doesn't remember when he faints or that he screams. He believes he passed out of nowhere or that time just went by. So I don't think it would be a good idea to tell him you heard him screaming or stuff like that because it makes him even more confused and it's worse for him."

"What am I supposed to tell him?"

"Just pretend nothing happened. It is for his best."

"How could I pretend nothing happened when he is suffering! He needs to be treated! Do you expect me to go 'ah, I see' and forget about it?"

Butters' expression changed. He wasn't cheery or nervous. He was dead serious and it was very unusual for him.

"He was treated, Stan. For a long time." He sighed. "I thought he was cured but his symptoms returned."

"When did those return?"

"I don't know. Let's change topic, okay?"

Kyle… I had no idea he suffered from this. He must have gone through a lot.

"Please, Stan. Don't ask Kyle about this or else he will get upset."

I couldn't stop thinking about Kyle and what the hell had happened to him. Whatever happened to him it is happening again so he needs more treatment. I want to help him, but how? I don't have the money to hire a psychologist but I could work part time to get it.

"Stan?"

"It's okay, Butters. I'm worried about Kyle."

"So am I. But I know he will be fine. He is not alone. He has people that care for him. You care, I care and there are others that care."

"I know… I will pay him a visit after classes."

"That would be nice. But I think you shouldn't." He looked sad. "I don't think you could pretend that nothing happened."

He had a point. I was worried about him but I don't know if I could 'pretend' nothing happened!

"I'll visit him and tell you if he's fine." Butters smiled.

* * *

><p>Kyle… What the hell happened to you?<p>

I couldn't stop thinking about him. Finding out that about him really killed my mood. I wanted to see him, I needed to see him right now and be sure that he is fine. I didn't care if he was still moody, Kyle was my best friend.

I sent him a message reminding him of our meeting.

"Stark's Pond, 6pm." I said out loud while I typed it. At least I would get to see him before entering the lake.

My phone vibrated.

**_"Im sry :( Ike has hmwk. Maybe 2morrow" _**

He said he would come! Argh!

"He will not come…" I told Butters. Both of us were walking towards the shore.

"It's such a shame! I really wanted him to come." He sighed.

We laid on the shore and waited. But I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about Kyle.

"Butters…"

"Yeah?"

"How long have you known Kyle?"

"Hmmm… since pre-school I think."

"And Cartman?"

"Pre-school too. Kyle and Eric used to hang out together with Kenny."

"Really? I thought Cartman and Kyle hated each other."

"I don't know if they hate each other but they hanged out together. I remember Kyle used to call Eric mean names and made him cry. Poor Eric."

"But surely Cartman had provoked him first."

Butters shook his head. "Nope. Kyle just called him mean names and laughed at him. I told Kyle not to be mean but he ignored me and called me a lame-o. Then, Kyle's mom grounded him when she found out he was being mean to Eric and Kyle apologized to him. But Eric started calling Kyle names. You know those… like jew… and jew… and… jew?"

I stared at the sky. There were few stars. I could still see the trees so we hadn't entered the dream yet. I was bored, so was Butters and we chatted until I decided to check my clock for the ninety ninth time.

"Hey!" I called Kyle. "Nothing is happening! I want to give up!" I was bored and hungry. My stomach was aching.

"_As soon as I'm done with Ike, I'll go right there." He told me. "We are nearly done_-" I overheard someone calling him 'Cookie Monster'. I wanted to laugh over the phone at such ridiculous nickname.

"_Give me a sec, Ike. Stan, Ike's homework is a piece of cake so I'll be there at 8pm-  
>But Kyle we still have maths to do!<br>That's due next week!  
>Ok, ok. Stan. I can't go today. Let's try again tomorrow, ok?<em>"

What's the deal with Ike doing homework due for a week! He should be like normal people and do it the day before it is due.

"Argh, that sucks." I bitched. "Can't Ike do his homework alone?" I sounded exasperated. I think it ticked Kyle a bit. Wasn't his brother the first in his class? Why did he need help? And for homework due not for tomorrow, no, due for NEXT WEEK!

"_Yeah… he can… but he wants some help. And there is nothing wrong with it. See ya tomorrow, bye._" He hanged up.

"Kyle won't come because his stupid brother needs help for homework due for god knows when!" I complained to Butters.

"That's strange. Ike rarely asks Kyle for help."

"No! It's not strange! It is as if Ike doesn't want Kyle to come!"

"Yeah, that must be."

"What?"

"Ike doesn't want Kyle to come." Butters yawned. "I'm feeling sleepy. I wonder why Ike does that."

We looked at the stars. Then I remembered something Kyle told me.

**_"My brother told me my memory has been letting me down recently so he told me it would be a good idea to write some stuff in some new app he made for me."_**

And then a light bulb, as big as the one in Cartman's dream, turned on in my head.

"Ike knows."

"What?"

"Butters! Ike knows what we are doing. Kyle has been writing it on his diary!"

"Well… he's worried then, isn't he?"

"Butters, you do not understand!" I stood up violently and Butters crawled backwards."Kyle was kidnapped, right? And the only ones that knew about the synched dreams were him, you and me. And he WROTE it on that app! An app that Ike developed. Don't you think it is a little bit strange?"

"Strange? Why?" He looked confused.

"Ike told Kyle to write stuff in that app he made. When Kyle wrote that he would meet us, he was kidnapped before the 'meeting time' and warned about it. But he was released during the morning and he wasn't harmed at all! And now that we told him to meet us to go there, Ike won't let him go. And the kidnapper just 'disappeared'."

"You don't think Ike kidnapped him, right?"

"I don't know. But I know Ike has something to do with it. I'm pretty sure of it. Ike couldn't have carried him so he might be working with some other guys."

"You are right. Maybe we could ask Kyle tomorrow."

"I don't know… We should be careful about Ike."

"You don't have to fear Ike. He is just protecting Kyle."

Maybe Butters was right. Maybe I was being a little paranoid by thinking Ike was the evil one in here. He must have been worried about his brother and knowing he wasn't that mentally stable as Butters told me, he might have wanted to keep him away from these things as dreams. But Kyle needed to see this and I wanted to show this to him.

"Lets go, Butters. It's nearly 9pm and I am starving."

"Yeah. Boy, I'm hungry."

We walked on the rocky path towards the town.

"Man! I forgot my wallet!" Butters ran towards the shore but tripped over and fell to the floor.

"Butters!" I ran towards him. "Are you okay?" I shook him but I noticed he was asleep. I could hear him breathing softly. "Butters? Butters?" No answer.

The lake was brighter than usual and there were a few sparks on the surface. Butters laid asleep with a troubled face and he was sweating. He must have entered the dream. I tried laying down but I had no luck and couldn't enter it.

"Butters?" I whispered.

"ARRGHHH!"

"ARGHHHH!" I freaked out when he woke up.

"STAN! STAN! I entered the dream! But I managed to get out! It was so close!"

"DUDE YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK! Wait! Weren't they synched dreams? I mean, didn't both of us had to be there for it to work?"

"I don't know! I just entered. It was peaceful, almost welcoming. There were fewer puppets." Butters' stomach growled. "My tummy…"

I checked my clock. 9:05pm.

"Yep, it's getting late. I'm tired."

Why did Butters enter? Why didn't I enter? I don't get it!

* * *

><p>I ate dinner alone, watching the TV. My mom was busy with Shelly doing god knows what. My phone rang. It was Kyle.<p>

"_Stan! How did it go?_"

"Butters entered but I couldn't. I don't get it!"

"_Really?_"

"This whole thing makes my head hurt!" I heard someone sobbing near Kyle. "I hear someone crying nearby… is everything okay?"

"_That's Ike. He is a little sad because he misses mom. I miss her too._"

"Where is she?"

"_With my aunt in Connecticut. She's been gone for a year I think. But she called me and said she was coming home tomorrow."_

"That's great!"

"_Yeah! Isn't it great, Ike?" _I heard Ike still crying. "_Ike, don't cry. Let's watch that movie you love so much, I bought you the DVD! Dude, I need to take care of Ike, he is very sad. Come to the student council tomorrow morning."_

* * *

><p>I met Kyle at the student council and before leaving I reminded him to come to Stark's Pond once again.<p>

"Sure, I'll be there. I promise I won't fail this time!"

We took a bus after school was over and went to a small mall called Colorden that was like 30 minutes away from the town. I wanted to buy a winter hat so I told Kyle to tag along. Maybe he could buy one himself.

We were in a winter clothing store. I noticed a greenish ushanka which was on sale.

"Hey! Kyle!"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you try it?"

He looked surprised.

"An ushanka? Why? That's kinda out of the blue…"

"You told me you hate your hair because it's messy and too curly, right? Maybe you could wear a hat if it bothers you so much."

"A simple hat could do, but why an ushanka?"

"I think it might suit you."

I grabbed said hat before anyone else could. This was Kyle's hat, there was no doubt about it!

"Just try it dude." I grinned.

Kyle sighed and laughed. "Ok." He tried said hat. It looked perfect on him! I couldn't help but admire how his face was much more noticeable by hiding those curls. Kyle was good looking and that hat enhanced his facial features.

"Stan?" He smiled when he saw the look on my face. "Does it really suit me that much?" He blushed a little.

"It's perfect! It's the nicest hat I've ever seen and it suits you perfectly! Buy it, Kyle! Or I'll buy it for you! But we are taking this hat!"

"Still… isn't this hat a little weird and uncommon?"

"Who gives a shit if it's uncommon. It looks good on you!"

"And it hides my hair! I'll buy it! But you must buy your hat as well!"

"An ushanka?"

"Nah. I don't think that would fit you…" Kyle said. He picked up a hat with a red pompom. "This is kind of cute, try this."

"I don't want a 'cute' hat, I'll look gay!"

"Fuck off. It's a cute hat but not in a gay sense, just try it!"

I tried tons of other hats after than one. I had to agree with Kyle that the one he had chosen for me suited me the best.

* * *

><p>8pm. And Kyle wasn't here. He said he would make it but something told me he wouldn't.<p>

"It's nearly 9pm Stan. I think we will enter this time." Said Butters.

"I KNEW Kyle wouldn't come." I sighed. I was disappointed, even if I had expected it.

"But why-?"

"Because Ike wanted to buy some books. Yeah, he wants to buy books in right now, in the night, because he just fucking wants to buy books." I sighed.

"Stan! Look!" Butters pointed at the sky. There was the huge light bulb. We were inside the dream.

"9pm." I checked my clock. "So it means we can only enter this place at 9pm, huh?"

There were puppets wandering around. They scared the shit out of me. I feared they would attack us.

"We must find the highest building of all. Let's go."

"Kay, kay. But we should get back before 10pm, otherwise I will get grounded…"

We tried to avoid most of the puppets until I felt someone grab my ankle and pull me. A puppet had sneaked up and caught be from behind.

"Stan!"

Two other puppets were approaching me. I was lucky that whatever that thing was that had emerged from me last time had reappeared before my very own eyes. It cut the puppets' limbs and allowed me to escape. I kept running with Butters and the strange shadow that had come from me kept cutting whatever puppet approached me. It felt as if I was the one cutting them with my own mind. But more and more kept coming and I was getting tired.

Butters looked at said shadow with admiration. It looked like a man covered in robes with Egyptian decorations. I don't know what it was. All I knew was that he followed my thoughts. If I saw any danger and thought about cutting this or that, that shadow would do it. We were one. That was exciting but scary at the same time.

"Stan! Look" Butters pointed at a weird cross near a trashcan. "The strings attached to these puppets are coming from there! Maybe if you cut those strings, they will stop attacking us!"

"I can't see the strings!"

"I see many of them but they are very thin! Try cutting them!"

"All right!" I did as he said and cut them. The puppets fell to the floor and tried to crawl towards me. They had no support and could not move.

"Nice one, Butters!"

The puppets turned pale and grew red hair before turning into dust. What the hell? Ginger puppets?

We soon found out the highest building of all and entered it.

"Eric!" Butters shouted. "Are you there? Eric?"

Another group of puppets went towards us. The space was too small and it was hard containing them.

"Butters! Find out where these strings connect to!"

"Okay!" I protected him with the strange persona that had emerged from me until he screamed. "Here! Stan! Here it is!" And I broke it. The puppets turned into students from South Park High School and turned to dust.

"Stan! Let's take the elevator!"

I followed Butters and we got inside said elevator. There was a red button named 'ETTC'. I pressed it and I was relieved when the doors had closed.

The elevator had transparent walls and we could see whatever was happening down there. The puppets had increased in number and were looking at us with hungry eyes.

The elevator doors opened and a middle aged man with a mustache greeted us.

"Hello boys. How can I help you?"

I feared that he was a puppet, so I took a step backwards and tried to hide Butters behind me. At least I had this strange thing that protected me but Butters didn't.

"Stan." Butters whispered into my ear, trembling. "That person is dead. He might turn into a puppet like Bradley did."

"I know. Shit!" I whispered back.

"How can I help you?" He repeated once again.

"Hello Sir, we are looking for our friend Eric." Said Butters with a nervous voice. "Have you seen him?"

"Ah, yeah. Come with me."

Should me follow him? Would there be a trap?

"What's wrong with you? Don't you want to know were Eric is?"

We decided to follow him with caution. He lead us to a huge balcony. There were many other people looking down at something. They weren't puppets, or at least they didn't look like them. They were also laughing at something and chatting between themselves. There were kids, adults, elders, all sorts of people.

The middle aged man made way through the mass of people and allowed us to get a better view.

"There he is." He pointed at the floor. I squeezed my eyes to try to look more clearly and I saw a little dot which looked like Cartman.

"Would you like some binoculars?" The man asked us.

"Hmm… yeah…" Said Butters with a trembling voice. I was shaking as well. I didn't know if it was because I was going to find out what he did to Cartman, if I feared that this would be a trap or a combination of both.

The people were throwing ripped stuffed animals, burgers and torn condoms. I shivered.

"Thank you, sir." Butters tried to be polite when receiving the binoculars.

"No need to thank me. And stop calling me sir, it makes me feel old. Why don't you call me Mr. Tenorman?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**  
>Here's another chapter <em>_J__ I don't know if any of you have played Persona. If you do, then Stan has an affinity to garu skills and Butters acts as a support. Like Kuma/Teddie in persona 4, who can't see very detailed info about the enemies but helps the main character._

_In case you haven't watched 201 or read it elsewhere, Jack Tenorman is Cartman's biological father. Cartman killed him and his wife, unaware that he killed his own father. But Cartman didn't care about that, he was troubled that he had ginger heritage. What could be the nightmare of a guy like Cartman who is a borderline sociopath? By watching and rewatching 1% I realized it might be being looked down upon by the others, due to his low self esteem. Which, of course, has a lot to do with the way he acts and manipulates people for his own needs. _

_Just to clear things up, the start of the chapter is the continuation of the previous one but from Ike's point of view. This chapter starts with the little argument between Stan and Kyle. While Stan is on the dream looking for Cartman, Kyle is in the mall with Ike buying books. _

_See you in the next chapter! Reviews motivate me ^^_


	5. TM Saves & Threatens

_"You are a fucking liar!"_

_"No, I'm not! I swear! I want to get there too but I don't know if I will make it in time! If only I had a motorcycle…"_

_"Hah! Well I've got one and I'll get that Kentucky ticket! And I won't let you taste any of it! Not even lick the bones!"_

_I saw Cartman exit the classroom and running towards the school entrance. A Kentucky promotion? That sounded yummy._

_"Hey." I blocked his path._

_"What the fuck do you want! Get out of there!"_

_"Is there a Kentucky promotion?"_

_"Yeah! They are giving an all-you-can-eat ticket for a whole week to the first 20 people who arrive there and buy at least 3 mega combos!"_

_"I want to get a ticket!"_

_"YOU? Fuck off, no. Your family is poor! Kentucky is too luxurious for you. Don't try to live beyond your means! Do you have money to buy the combos? Of course you don't! Go eat your own lame mega combo, which is plain bread with ketchup and a glass of water! Oh. Is ketchup too expensive for you?"_

_Whatever, who cares what the fat greasy fuck thinks. And what's great about eating the same crappy chicken for a whole week._

_"Hey." Clyde greeted us. He was carrying a KFC bag. Damn, that shit smelled good. _

_"CLYDE! CLYDE! Did you get in time for the ticket?"_

_"Huh? What ticket?"_

_"Kentucky is giving away free all-you-can-eat tickets to the first 20 people that buy 3 mega combos!" He said while he shamelessly grabbed a piece of Clyde's chicken._

_"Hey!" He pushed Cartman away. "No, they aren't giving out those passes. I've just been there and I haven't heard of it. I don't know who told you that lie but just leave my food alone." Clyde left before Cartman would devour any more of his food. _

_"A lie? THAT HEEB CHRIST-KILLER FLOPPYCOCKSUCKER!" He screamed and ran towards the classroom. "WHERE IS HE?"_

_I've known Cartman since we were children. He always got into heated arguments with Kyle but they never hurt each other. Kyle had just returned to South Park a few weeks ago after being gone for years. I'd always liked when Kyle beat the crap out of him. Cartman used to picked on me and still does, things like that haven't changed. Like the fact that I still didn't give a crap about what he said. He says I'm poor when at least I've got two parents unlike him whose mother is a plain, dirty whore._

_I knew Kyle was in the library right now but I wasn't going to tell Cartman that. I knew where the redhead was most of the time. I wasn't stalking him, I was keeping track of his movements and his activities _

_Cartman had already figured out Kyle was in the library, so he rushed to find him. I sighed, those two would surely start fighting as they did since they were kids. They haven't seen each other in years. _

_So I went towards the library, expecting Kyle to scream back at Cartman like in the old days. But I understood that as time passes, some things change._

_Cartman was grabbing Kyle's throat, choking him and pressing his body against the bookstand. _

_"You tricked me!"_

_"Ghh-Letgh-me-ghh-goo-fattghhassghh!"_

_The other students were watching with curious eyes but nobody gave a shit to help Kyle. Cartman was still the fattest kid but he was also buff and his strength was imaginable. Kyle wasn't able to push him away for fight him like he did a long time ago. He was much thinner that him, probably due to his diabetic diet. _

_I grabbed an encyclopedia and slammed it against Cartman's head. He dropped to the floor._

_Kyle regained his breath and massaged his throat. Then he looked at Cartman._

_"You shithead! You nearly killed him!" He screamed at me. _

_"Who the fuck cares about him, anyway?"_

_"That's the point! You should have hit him harder! Why did you miss!" He sighed._

_We both looked at Cartman, laying on the floor._

_"Why the fuck would you tell him there was a Kentucky promotion?"_

_"Dude! I- I just needed some space to finish my homework. And he kept bugging me so I thought that would drive him away."_

_"I finally understand why encyclopedias are cool." Kyle chuckled at my comment and that made me so happy._

_The librarian came screaming towards us. "You need to shut up! We are in a library! Please, take your friend to the first aid room and leave." The annoying old lady left._

_"Ok… how do we move a fat lump of cancer out of here?"_

_"Let's each grab one wrist and drag him there."_

_"Ok." Kyle agreed. "But you need to return that encyclopedia to its place."_

_I turned around and as soon as I was done placing it, I heard Kyle saying "Kh'-" but he was muffled and someone hit me in the head with god knows what._

_I quickly regained consciousness and stoop up. Damn, that shit hurt. I grabbed my head and sensed a small bump. _

_There were a few students sitting by. They were the same ones that looked at me when I hit Cartman._

_"Where is the fatfuck and the readhead?" I asked them._

_"We can't tell you…"_

_"Why?" _

_"He paid us. But he said that if you paid us more, then we could tell you."_

_I was worried about the jew so I searched for my wallet._

_"How much did he paid you?"_

_"$55 each."_

_Fuck. Okay, how about offering $5 to these bastards… oh wait, I only have $1 in my wallet, crap._

_I know it wasn't my problem, that both of them wouldn't hurt each other but I had a hunch, a gut-feeling that I needed to look for them._

_I looked everywhere, asking people if they have seen them pass by until I found them in an unused abandoned classroom that was closed because it was being used as the storage for broken chairs, tables and blackboards. _

_The whole place was filled with dust, making it quite hard to breathe. _

_But that didn't prevent me from seeing the whole scene._

_And being shocked by it._

_Some things might seem funny and mild when you are a kid. _

_But when you are a teen… everything changes._

_There was Kyle, defenseless, tied to a school table in a compromising position. His ankles had been tied up together with a bonding tape, as well as his wrists, which were located on top of his back. His torso was tied up with ropes, preventing him from moving and his stomach was pressing the table's wood. His head was being held in place by four large pieces of bonding tape which adhered to the wood, and his left cheek was pressed against the table. His jaw was forcibly opened by a disgusting spider gag… _

_Cartman placed a camera in another table quite far, making sure it focused on Kyle. Then, he started undoing his pants._

_"You are a bad, bad jew. You will suck the King's cock'n'balls."_

* * *

><p><strong>Dreamt Shoreline<strong>

**V. THE MIND, SAVES AND THREATENS**

* * *

><p>Cartman was crying and squealing like a pig. The middle aged man spit at him and screamed several obscenities towards his mother, calling her a fucked up slut and that she gave birth to a fat piece of garbage.<p>

"She was a quick fuck." He said. "And she didn't even charge me!"

Butters and I just were astonished from every thing said to him. If it was already to harsh to hear for us I couldn't and didn't want to imagine how harsh it would be for Cartman.

"SHUT UP! All you people just SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

The middle aged man looked at him with disgust. A kid who looked like him was laughing excessively.

"Go play with your toys, piggy!"

He threw toys to the floor.

"Stop!" Butters screamed and grabbed the middle aged man by his shoulders but the man turned into a white, sticky known substance and vanished. I tried to hit the annoying ginger kid who was laughing at him, but he pushed me away.

"What do you think you are doing? Why aren't you having fun?"

"How could I have fun looking at someone be this humiliated!" I answered him back.

"This piggy would be laughing and squealing if he saw this happen to someone else. This dirty piggy loves humiliating others, so there is nothing wrong humiliating him."

"You are wrong! Just because he humiliates others doesn't mean I'll do the same stuff! It is wrong!" I screamed at him.

"Treat others as you would like to be treated. Piggy loves being the laughingstock, huh? He needs his lesson!"

"This is too much!"

"Oh... Is this too much? Piggy made a couple of kids kill themselves because he bullied them. Piggy treats her mother as his personal slave even in front of others. Piggy convinced mommies to abort their babies for his own greed. Piggy made me eat my own parents because he thought it would be fun. Piggy loves this!"

I was astonished. Seeing Cartman being treated like this was unbearable. But he did commit horrible things. Butters looked at me with a sad expression.

"Cartman did those things and even more." He answered the question before I asked him.

"So, Stan Marsh. Join us and let's give Cartman his lesson."

There was a large pause. Everyone stopped screaming and throwing stuff at him.

"No."

"What?"

"Okay, Cartman did fucked up stuff but we shouldn't come to his level. He will be alone and miserable but we have no right to punish him and become like him. So no. Leave him alone."

"Yeah." One of the toys, a doll with a high pitched voice said. "Leave him alone!" She was a strange doll.

The toys grew in size and the crowd fled the place.

A large feline approached Cartman. I recognized it as the one that had attacked me before. It tackled Cartman.

"We will help you Erick!" A purple dragon plush flew down, grabbed Cartman by the neck and brought him back to where we were.

"Cartman!" Butters and I came running towards him.

He was devastated. He was pale, his eyes were red, his hair was messy and his clothes were dirty. His body returned to its original form, no longer resembling a tumor or a humanoid pig.

"Guys..." He said with a weak voice. His toys cheered that his master was alive.

"Erick is alive! It's because he is awesome and kewl!" The doll said.

"Yeah! He is not fat! He is buff and he is handsome!" Said a panda plush.

"Erick doesn't need anyone. He can stay with us!" Said a strange frog plush. "Erick can tell us what to do, he is our king! He is the wisest of all"

"Eric! I'm glad you are ok." Butters said. "I know you have done bad things to me. But those things are buried in the past." He gave his classic goody boy smile. "So let's go back."

"Eric won't go back." A muscled toy which looked like a Ken doll said. "He needs us and we need him. We adore him for what he is. Isn't that right Polly Prissy Pants?"

"Guys…" Cartman repeated once again in a weak voice, trying to be heard.

"Yeah, Muscleman Marc. Eric belongs here."

"We would never hurt him or say mean things to him. This frog never lies."

"Cartman, cut the bullshit and let's return to our world. It's getting late and we are pretty tired." I told him.

"Yeah." Said Butters. "Ah- I don't want to get grounded."

"Yeah, Eric, go back in there and get called names. Be humiliated by others. The jewish rat will defeat you in any challenge and his fucked up crazy devotee will beat the shit out of you. Your mom will still be that useless whore and your friends will betray you as always because they really never liked you. And they'll blame it on you."

"Listen to Peter Panda, Eric. He is the wisest." Said Polly Pissy Pants.

"Guys..." Erick insisted once again. "You are toys. I… don't need you."

"What? Why are you telling us that? Don't you want to stay her with us and be our king? We like you just he way you are."

"I don't want to be accepted by stuffed toys..." Cartman stood up. A large plastic gun materialized on his feet. "I want to be accepted by humans."

"I'm sorry." Tears streamed down his eyes while he shot the stuffed doll on the forehead. "You were mah best friends. Mah real best friends!". The other stuffed toys grabbed Cartman and tied him up. The windows of the room showed the faces of many different people, smiling. I noticed Butters's face and mine were in there. I also found, how ironic, Kyle's face. It wasn't on the windows like the others but rather on an huge painting in the middle of the wall. His portrait had the following words scribbled on it: _partner_, _business_, _henchman_, _perfect pair in crime_, _useful_, _worthy_, _beat or make him join you_, and _the only human worth competing against_.

"Why does our awesome Erick want to be accepted by you filthy humans? You make Erick suffer."

The muscled puppet hit Butters on the stomach. I summoned Seth, the shadow that followed me but before I could attack them, I was hit by a light ray and lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the strange luxury cabin. The beautiful assistant was sitting where the old man used to be. I wonder where he was. She smiled at me and said that she would give me a choice.

What kind of choice, I wonder. I could sense a little of malice in her golden eyes.

"Our guests posses the Wild Card, the ability for them to use multiple personae. You have that ability in you. Nonetheless, you only possess a single persona, Seth, whose power you are not compatible with."

I wanted to speak and tell her where could I find more personae but I couldn't move my lips. I felt as if I was in a state of limbo, I couldn't speak or move, I just listened no matter how much I wanted to ask her questions. My throat didn't make any sounds at all.

Five symbols appeared in front of me: fire, electricity, ice, wind and a sort of a fist. Below them said agi skills, zio skills, bufu skills, garu skills and physical. The wind symbol was the shiniest of all, and it glowed a beautiful green.

"You might be asking yourself why aren't you compatible with said power. Your persona might be accurate but your skill power was forced by Igor to prevent the inevitable from happening. Your power isn't wind type. You unconsciously acquired the wrong element as a response to your own mind blocking your true self. Which is dangerous due to the fact that you are forcing a power upon yourself."

My true self?

"So I'm giving you a choice. Abandon your Wild Card ability, change it for the Nifleheim Card. You will only be able to use Ice-based personae." The ice symbol glowed light blue. I haven't even used my Wild Card ability and she wants to take it away? What the hell? I tried to protest but no voice came out of me. This was UNFAIR.

"Remember. You have the choice to abandon your Wild Card and you will immediately acquire Ice-based skills but lose the possibility to acquire other types of skills. This card will also emotionally stabilize you due to its abilities to freeze certain memories."

I abruptly woke up in the sky building where Cartman had been held. Butters had fainted.

"Butters!" As soon as I stood up and tried to reach him, the toys blocked my path.

I didn't care about that Niffy-whatever Card, I wasn't going to lose an ability that I haven't even tried. Polly Prissypants laughed at me, which pissed me off. I made my only persona, Seth, attack them with a cutting wind but there was a green veil covering the annoying dolly puppet. I tried attacking her once again but my attack was reflected… at Butters. Shit. Butters's body was tossed to the other side of the room due to the force of my attack. The other puppets imitated her and surrounded themselves with that greenish veil.

None of my wind attacks hurt them. They didn't repel wind before, did they? Why now?

And then the answer came as clear as water when I saw her face and her golden eyes.

"Have you made up your mind yet?"

I realized I had been teleported once again to that strange cabin. I wanted to yell at her, ask him where the hell was Igor but I couldn't feel anything or mutter a single word. I felt numb.

"You still have a choice."

I couldn't stand it. At last, my voice returned and I could finally scream at her.

"You say I have a choice? If I don't abandon my ability I will die! I have no choice!"

"You have a choice, Stan Marsh. To live or to die. There are two possibilities so it is a choice."

"I will not lose an ability I haven't even tried! That's unfair! I'd rather die than lose it!"

"Well then. Easier said than done." She faded.

And I was back once again in the now deteriorated and oxidized skybuilding with Cartman's toys. The toys were playing cruely with Cartman's body as if he was their own chewing toy. I tried to check on Butters, but instead of him there was Kyle, with his green ushanka, laying down where Butters was supposed to be.

I screamed Kyle's name in shock and noticed there was another Kyle without a green ushanka looking at him. I started to panic and noticed the toys had also transformed into Kyle. Cartman also looked like a fatter version of Kyle. What the hell was happening?

The portraits of the people in the windows were replaced by my own face with deep, stoic eyes.

My head start hurting like hell. What the fuck had been that heroic crap? I didn't want to die… But I didn't want to please her. But if I died, wouldn't that please her too? And now, I was going mad…

No. I won't die and I won't have to accept her proposal. I closed my eyes to avoid looking at the multiple Kyle's, my own face with an expression I didn't recognize in myself and other insanities materializing in the room I hoped to restore my sanity that way. I heard Kenny's soft voice, whispering 'Kyle… don't look…'. I began feeling sick and my throat tightened. A few seconds passed by and there was the deafening sound of silence.

I opened my eyes, hoping the nightmarish ambience had gone away. Butters' body was laying where I had last seen him. The puppets had tossed Cartman away.

I attacked the toys with all of my fury, even if I knew my skill was being reflected.

"You will die here. And Cartman will stay with us."

'_Don't try to play the hero_.' Said a female voice in my head. It belonged to that assistant. The toys growled and another green veil covered them. '_They will now absorb wind skills and recover their health with them_.' It was the assistant's voice.

"Shit!" I screamed. "What do you want from me! Why are you doing this?"

'_I am trying to help you_. _The Wild Card will make you even more unstable than you are now. In both your world and this world_.'

"I AM NOT UNSTABLE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and noticed there were no toys. They had vanished once again. I was laying on the floor, wounded. Kyle, who had materialized once again, was standing up with his feet facing my nose and looked at me with a stoic expression.

"Stan…" He whispered. "You are dying."

I noticed the wounds inflicted by the toys were indeed grave. I was tired. I didn't even know what was I doing here in the first place. Saving a guy I just met a few days ago who was annoying as hell? The plain truth was that I wanted to explore this strange place. Something on my mind was telling me that I needed to. And I wanted to explore this place with my best friend Kyle who could never make it in time to enter the dreamplace with me. I didn't know it would be that dangerous, no matter how many warnings I got or how I realized this was connected to the real world. It made me even more curious

A few meters far away stood Dywen, the assistant.

If I die… I would just… die. No matter how silly it sounded, it somehow made sense. Dying… wouldn't hurt, right. I was afraid to die. I wasn't sure if there was heaven or hell, or I would just rot. I made my choice.

"Stan… Don't." Kyle threatened me. The assistant just looked at me.

"Stan… you have a choice. It doesn't matter what you choose. As long as you choose it and no one else." She said, sweetly.

I looked at my buddy Kyle once again. He was glaring at me.

"I really… don't have a choice…" The assistant smiled. "So… I want to live… even if I have to use your lame card. Heh." I tried to chuckle and relieve the pain a bit that way. "After all, this is just a dream, isn't it?"

She didn't answer my last question and vanished.

Everything returned back to "normal". The annoying toys were there once again and more disfigured than ever, Butters was still laying on the floor and Cartman was slowly regaining consciousness. My wounds had partially healed. The multiple images of Kyle had disappeared as well as the portrait of my face in the windows.

"Why isn't he dead?"

The purple dragon approached me and tried to spit fire once again but I moved out of the way and another shadow, different from the one I had before, protected me. It froze the beast to death.

"Rumpertumskin!" The doll screamed.

And now came the ken-lookalike muscled toy, threatening to hit me. Like the previous one, he was frozen to death as well. I smiled like a maniac at the other two toys left. I wanted to enjoy freezing the freaky doll as my last kill, so I went for the Panda and attacked it. I was filled with adrenaline. I looked at the cotton rests of the three toys, which now laid on the floor. I stared at the doll with hungry eyes, wanting to freeze her to death with this new power I was given. Instead, the doll pulled out a toy gun out of her skirt, the same gun Cartman had used on her.

"Cartman doesn't need us. We have no reason to live, do we?" And she shot herself. Cotton flew all over the place and slowly descended onto the ground like snow. I had to admit it was beautiful, no matter how twisted it sounded.

Cartman slowly recovered consciousness. I was still with the adrenaline of the action I've just had and wanted more. I needed to calm myself so I took a deep breath and walked around the room. There was a piece of photographic paper laying on the floor.

"What the hell is this?" I whispered to no one in particular and picked it up.

And then I gasped. I nearly had a heart attack when I noticed I had just awoken at the shore of Stark's pond. I breathed heavily, trying to calm myself from the sudden shock of changing locations in less that a second.

Butters also screamed and tried to regain air. It seems that he was also shocked of suddenly returning here without any warning.

"STAN! STAN!" He screamed. "STAN!"

"Calm down!" I screamed. I was still shocked.

Cartman laid there, sheepishly. He yawned and looked at us.

"Oh my gawd! Guys! I had the strangest dream ever! I dreamt that-" He suddenly stopped, remembering what had happened. "Never mind, that dream sucked ass."

Butters and I chuckled.

"This thing about dreaming together with you guys is pure crap. You gave me a nightmare, I'm never sleeping with you guys again in mah entire life!"

"That sounded wrong, Eric." Butters chuckled.

"Screw you guys, I'm going home!" He stood up but his weariness made him stumble and fall.

"Let us help you, Cartman."

"Ugh! I don't want your help! If you get near me, I will get nightmares once again!"

In the end, we helped him. I noticed he took short glances at me but didn't say anything. Until we arrived at the door of his home.

"… Stan."

"What?"

"Butters, go away! I need to talk to Stan!"

"Oh… okay then. Bye Eric, take care." Butters left just like that, without protesting. He was too goody-goody, it was quite irritating.

"What do you want? I'm tired." I told him.

"Thnn… Thanks." He avoided my stare. "Now get lost."

I couldn't help but smile a bit. I didn't look back when I was on my way to my house but I was sure Cartman was smiling at me and trying to hide it, a hunch told me so. I felt as if hours had passed while I was in there so I checked on the clock. The truth was that only an hour or so had passed since we left the dream. 10:15pm, huh? That means that we woke up from the dream nearly at 10pm, perhaps a couple of minutes earlier. Who cares, I'm tired.

* * *

><p>So Cartman was back to school once again. He was back to his usual, arrogant self, pretending nothing had happened.<p>

I looked all over the place for my best friend. I couldn't wait to tell him what had happened. (*)

"Dude!" I greeted him.

Kyle… he looked different today. His face was gloomy, his eyes had no trail of light at all and he looked paler than usual. He wasn't wearing his ushanka, which slightly pissed me off since we bought it together.

He stared at me for quite a long time like a cow stares at an oncoming train before saying 'oh hi'. He looked so miserable.

"Umm… is something wrong with you?"

"Nn… not really… I just want to be left alone." He avoided my gaze.

"Dude! What happened! You need to tell me!" I became worried about him because of how he was looking right now. And the way he stared at me.

"Please, Stan. Leave me alone."

"Kyle! I am your friend. You can trust me. You can tell me what is bugging you and we will solve it together. That's what friends are for, right?" I smiled at him.

He smiled weakly and thanked me.

"Mom died…" I was shocked. He avoided my gaze by moving his eyes to the left. I stood there, speechless while he made his way to the classroom.

* * *

><p>In Art class we had to do some figures with the cardboards. I wanted to team up with Kyle but he skipped this class. Where the hell was he? I couldn't blame him after all, if my mom died I would do the same.<p>

"Stan, dude." Kenny asked me. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm just worried, that's all."

"About what?"

"Kyle's mom died." Kenny was puzzled.

"Ah? You mean that big fat ugly bitch?" Cartman appeared out of the blue. "Thanks God she died."

"How can you say that!" I was about to lose my patience with the fat boy. I should have never saved him.

"Look, Stan." Kenny said, quite exasperated. "About Kyle's mother-"

"Are you three guys forming a group?" The teacher interrupted him.

"Yeah." Kenny answered back.

"Four people per group, guys. You need someone else to join. Why don't you tell Tucker to join you? He hasn't got a group."

"No way!" Cartman and I said in unison.

"Craig is with Token, Tweek and Clyde." Kenny told the teacher. "Jimmy is the one being left out."

"Can he be in your group?"

"I'm fine with it." I said.

"Same." Cartman added.

"Ok, I'll tell him to come here." The teacher left.

"Hey Cartman." I poked at his shoulder.

"What?"

"We sure are lucky that we don't get Craig in our group, aren't we?"

"Yeah! That shitball is fucking scary."

The teacher came back with thick cardboards, glue, paint and brushes.

"You are going to need scissors to cut the cardboard. Unfortunately, I ran out of them but I know Mr. Adler has one. Can anyone of you go ask him to lend you them?"

In the end, I was the one that got them. Mr. Adler's metallic scissors were very large, quite thick and had pointy blades.

"DUDE!" Kenny exclaimed when seeing the scissors. "Where the FUCK did you get that?"

"Awesome!" Cartman grabbed them and admired the blades.

"Where the h-h-h-ell did Mr. Add-d-ler get this twenty five cen-n-centimeters scis-ss-sors?" Jimmy was also surprised.

"Who knows… He was a lot of weird shit." I told them. I had seen many dangerous tools when he was looking for them. "Now, let's cut the cardboard."

We tried to make a cardboard sculpture. That's the word: we TRIED. But we didn't make it. It was supposed to be a plain camel but it ended up looking like an aborted fetus or so with huge boobs, courtesy of Kenny McCormick. At least we got the minimum passing grade. If Kyle had been here, we would have done a more decent job. Or he would have lost his patience and we would had ended up with no sculpture at all.

* * *

><p>I offered to take Mr. Adler's pointy huge scissors back to his office on the first floor.<p>

"You know... You shouldn't carry scissors that way." Kenny warned me.

"Kenny is right. If you g-g-gr-grab them from the handles and bu-bu-bu-mp into someone you might cut th-them."

"Aw, come on guys. It's just a floor. I go down the stairs, turn to the right and tada there is his office."

"Yeah! Dont make a fuss over small stuff."

Cartman said. "it is uncomfortable to carry them from the blades. Handles were made for a purpose."

"I'll be right back." I left the Art classroom.. I turned left and found the stairs. Some chill went down my spine. I decided to ignore it and started going down the stairs when suddenly I tripped over so badly on the first stair that my feet weren't touching the floor and I was about to fall on my face on the first floor. Damn! I would be lucky just to get a head contusion.

I began seeing everything in slow motion. I extended both of my arms to make sure I didn't fall on my head but due to the fear I was feeling right now I grabbed the scissors as tight as I could, the blades pointing at the first floor. If any harm came to the scissors, Mr. Adler would fail me in his subject, so I lifted my left arm carrying the scissors, and decided to fall on my right arm. I thought that if had the worst luck of all, I would break my left arm, hit my head so hard I would fall unconscious and destroy the scissors.

I was wrong. It could be much worse. And was.

Kyle was distracted with his iPod and stood in front of the stairs, texting someone. I felt time had slowed down to the point I could see how Kyle's right feet touched the first staircase as if that had taken a whole hour. I noticed the blades pointed directly at his heart. I couldn't move, I only had a couple of seconds until the scissors pierced Kyle's heart so I panicked and screamed his name, hoping he would go away quickly. But he didn't. He stared at me with a horrified expression and was frozen with shock and fear.

I shut my eyes tightly. I felt how the blades made their way through the thick flesh. The impact of my fall had helped them dig in deeper until only the handle was left visible. My god… the scissors had pierced deeply… Tears streamed down my eyes. His body was shaking, so did mine.

I released the scissors' handles and dropped to the floor, scared, with my eyes still closed.

And I heard Kyle's voice, soft and trembling.

"...why...?"

I wanted to answer him, tell him it was an accident and I didn't mean to trip down the stairs with dangerous scissors but someone else spoke instead.

"You saved me. So I saved you."

I partially opened my eyes and noticed a guy hugging Kyle tightly. The scissors had pierced his back, above his right lung. Or maybe it pierced his lung. I didn't want to know. I was scared to know… What I only knew was that there was lot of blood, that his clothes had also been pierced and that his wound looked awfully painful…

"Don't... Look at me... with that face..." the guy told Kyle. His voiced trembled with the pain he was feeling. "I did this...because I owed you...one… So… I'm no longer in debt…" The guy used every little bit of energy left to take out a gun from his pocket. "And now... " he pressed the gun against my forehead and I met his icy glaze.

"DON'T! Please don't!" Kyle screamed.

"You said… it hurt looking at him, didn't you?"

"I don't want-! I don't want my best friend to die please stop!"

The guy stumbled a bit but he was still using his willpower to keep standing up instead of succumbing to the pain and falling down.

"You are...an hypocrite..." He said in a low voice. "Try to take...the gun away from me.."

I was scared. I fully opened my eyes, realized who had protected Kyle and knew I was screwed. He was going to kill me right now. However, what troubled me the most was that Kyle didn't make any effort to take the gun away from a wounded guy who was about to collapse any second. Even if he was begging for my life.

I didn't want to see or understand that Kyle would not defend me. He was going to pull the trigger, there was pure determination in his cold eyes. I tried to escape, hoping he would collapse right now due to the pain and blood loss. And damn, he was bleeding badly and getting paler with each passing second. I still had a chance. So I stood up and ran away, going up the stairs as fast as I could, with pure primal fear for my own life. I heard a gunshot and knew it had missed because I experienced no harm at all but a few seconds later I felt someone's weight on my back.

I realized someone had taken the bullet for me.

Students screamed, teachers ran towards the place and the deafening sound of an ambulance was heard.

The guy who shot Kenny McCormick dropped the gun and finally fainted from the blood loss.

"Kenny! Kenny! Please!" Kenny was agonizing. I told him to hold on while I panicked. Kenny smiled at me and said "Stan... Please... Look at me... For your own sake…"

Kenny grabbed Craig Tucker's gun and shot himself on the head.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: _**

Aaand that's how this chapter ends! Let me know your theories and thoughts about this story.

By the way, the end of Cartman's dream is tied up with the start of chapter 4.

About Kyle being highly regarded by Cartman, I know he always makes fun of him but (sometimes) when Kyle and Stan argue, Cartman takes Kyle's side and becomes sort of his 'temporary best friend'. Like in Ass Burgers or Super Best Friends. Both of them are also great business partners as shown in (once again) Ass Burgers) and Crack Baby Association. In the later, he was favored by Cartman, who treated the other members like trash. Once again it's just a theory and doesn't mean Cartman is desperate to have him as a friend, he just admires him and considers him a worthy opponent.

(*) I might be stating the obvious but the reason why Stan wants to see Kyle despite having seen him in the nightmare is because he is under the Ice Card which might keep him sane but freezes some memories. Being frozen doesn't mean they are deleted…

Feel free to leave reviews ;) even short ones.

See ya!


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